Poster in Indore village denies entry to Muslim traders

A case has been filed against unknown persons after a poster prohibiting entry of Muslim traders was put up in a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore district. The poster was removed by police on Sunday (May 3), reported Indian Express.

Written in Hindi and signed on behalf of the “residents of Pemalpur village,” the poster read: “Muslim traders are not allowed to enter the village.” Reports suggest it was put up on Saturday. According to the report, DIG (Indore) Harinarayanchari Mishra said the police removed the post immediately after learning about it, and a case was registered against unknown persons.

क्या यह कृत्य प्रधान मंत्री मोदी जी की अपील के विरुद्ध नहीं है? क्या यह कृत्य हमारे क़ानून में दण्डनीय अपराध नहीं है? मेरे ये प्रश्न मुख्य मंत्री शिवराज चौहान जा व मप्र पुलिस से हैं। समाज में इस प्रकार का विभाजन-बिखराव देश हित में नहीं है। https://t.co/rGV1qD2UXh

— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) May 3, 2020

Retweeting a post that carried a photo of the poster, former chief minister and Congress leader Digvijay Singh said, “Such discrimination in the society is not in the interest of the country.” Addressing Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state police, the former CM asked, “Is this act not against the appeal of Prime Minister Modi? Is this act not a criminal offence as per our law?”

The incident comes at a time when the country is under a lockdown forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Indore has been one of the major epicenters of the virus. Till May 2, Indore district has reported 1,545 cases and 74 deaths.

Related news: UP hospital apologises for ad barring entry of Muslims with COVID-19

A similar incident was reported from Uttar Pradesh last month, where a private cancer hospital had put up an advertisement denying entry to Muslim patients without a COVID-19 test. The hospital later issued a formal apology for hurting religious sentiments.

Around mid-April, an Uttar Pradesh MLA had courted controversy for asking people not to buy vegetables from Muslim vendors. “I am saying this openly. No one will buy vegetables from Muslims,” Barhaj MLA Suresh Tiwari said, a video clip of which started doing rounds on social media late last month.

(With inputs from agencies)