Two Nagaland youths allege racial bias in Mysuru's supermarket; 4 staffers held

MYSURU: Two youths from Nagaland alleged they faced racial discrimination when they visited a supermarket in Mysuru’s Chamundipuram to purchase grocery on Saturday.
Based on their social media posts and CCTV footage, police on Sunday arrested four employees of More store on charges of racial discrimination against the two students and denial of food items. Police commissioner Chandragupta said an FIR was lodged at Krishnaraja police station and the manager and staff of the supermarket were questioned.
The arrested are Manjunath, customer service associate, Naveen from IT maintenance division, Avinash, manager of the outlet, and Revanna.
However, the mall staff denied the allegations and told police it was the public who asked them not to allow the duo into the store as they looked like foreigners.
The incident came to light when one of the Naga youths — a college student in Mysuru — posted about it on his social media page. He said the incident happened when he went to the supermarket with his friend on Saturday evening to buy grocery. According to the post, the duo stood in the queue for 25 minutes, maintaining social distance. But when it was their turn to enter the store, they were stopped by the staff at the entrance. “Though we requested them to allow us as we didn’t have any symptoms of flu, they didn’t oblige. When we asked the reason, they said, ‘you are not from India.’”
Though the two youths were offended, they showed them their Aadhaar cards to prove their nationality. They said they were from Nagaland, studying in a college in Mysuru. But nobody was willing to listen to them, the post claimed. The students said they argued for 10 minutes and went back without buying goods. One of them uploaded the video of the incident and accused the staff of racism.
Police commissioner Chandragupta said: “We urge people and shop owners to behave responsibly during such crises.”
Supermarket to probe incident
The supermarket said it will conduct a probe into the incident. “More Retail does not accept discrimination of any kind in its stores. Our stores are open to all citizens of the country. A probe will be conducted into this incident...,” read a statement.
Reacting to the incident, Union sports minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted that this was unacceptable and the Union home ministry has already issued a clear advisory to all states and Union Territories to prevent any discrimination against people from northeast.