Muslim employee sacked for sporting a beard in West Bengal

Kolkata: Not many days have gone past when MBA graduate Zeshan Ali Khan was denied a job in a diamond export company in Mumbai because of his religion. Now, in Kolkata, a man lost his job because he started keeping beard.

Mohd Ismail, who was working as general manager (Mines) in Adhunik Group of Industries for the last six years lost his job this year when he returned from 'Hajj' in May, 2014, sporting a beard.

After his return, his salary was reduced to half. The same continued for coming months when in March this year, he decided to approach Manoj Agarwal, managing director of the company.

When Ismail demanded his pending salary, he was thrown out of the office by guards, and was termed 'terrorist' by Agarwal.

“As soon as I returned from my Haj pilgrimage, I had been sporting a beard. The MD of the company said that I was trying to threaten him and termed me a ‘terrorist’. It was extremely saddening to hear that I was termed as a ‘terrorist’ on my own soil”, said Ismail.

Ismail then tried to approach government bodies like Human Rights Commission, Minority Commission and even the Chief Minister's office but no action was taken. He also filed an FIR against MD Manoj Agarwal in Ballygunj station, but police did not take any measures.

The company has, however, dismissed Ismail's accusations and termed him as `fraud`.

“Whatever Ismail has said is a lie. He had threatened us that he would ransack and vandalise our office. He is a fraud”, claimed Mahesh Agarwal, the brother of MD Manoj Agarwal.

Now, Ismail is moving the Calcutta High Court to seek justice and an apology for the remarks that hurt his religious sentiments.

While, in the West Bengal Assembly, MLAs of Left wing demanded strict action against the officer-in-charge of Ballygunj Police Station for not taking any action.

Just after this news surfaced in the media, Ismail got an SMS from the company offering him all his remaining dues, but now he wants only justice.