In an outrageous act, an owner of a Delhi-based orphanage has denied a job to a Muslim girl because she wore Islamic headscarf, hijab.
Photo-Indian Express27-year-old Nedal Zoya, a Masters in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, was bluntly told the reason for her rejection was that she wore hijab.
The owner of the orphanage, Harish Varma wrote to her in an email, “Our upcoming orphanage will be religion free for the eligible orphan girls as well as staff. But I am sorry to inform you that even a distance of one kilometer you looks like a Muslim lady due to your external Muslim gears! (sic)”
In her reply, Zoya asked, “Would you be performing pooja during festivals? Or would you allow girls in the orphan to offer namaz or do pooja?”
Zoya’s email appeared to have angered Varma, who, in his reply, wondered how ‘conservative Islam’ was her priority over ‘humanity.’
He wrote, “I was shocked to know that conservative Islam is your priority not humanity! Your all higher education gone the drain.”
Varma later told Indian Express that he stood by his Islamophobia adding that he had hired a Muslim girl with ‘modern thoughts.’
Reacting to the development, Saurabh Bharadwaj, MLA from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party said that his government will take action against Varma if Zoya officially lodged a complaint adding that the Indian constitution did not allow anyone to discriminate on the basis of someone’s faith.