Today, many of us use social media to voice our opinions, consume and share information, entertain ourselves or to kill time. It makes our lives easy but it also has its adverse effects.
Social media gives us a platform to say what we want, speak our mind or talk about everything under the sun. Nevertheless, over the years, people have been using social media to spread hate speech, there has been a spike in the vilification of an entire religion, race, community, etc.
This leads to the question- is everyone using social media to gain knowledge, information and entertainment or are there any other reasons too? Likewise, Islamophobia and prejudice against Muslims remain blatant and common in India but in the past couple of months, this behaviour is exhibited by the Indian diaspora or Indians living abroad too.
Below are some such cases -
Indian Expat in Canada Loses Job Over an Islamophobic Tweet
After several Indian Expats being sacked in the UAE for their Islamophobic views, Ravi Hooda, a Canadian of Indian origin lost his job for the same. This also led to the termination of his contract with Remax Canada, one of the leading real estate agency in Canada.
When numerous Toronto municipalities granted permits to local mosques to call for prayer (azaan) on loudspeakers during Ramzan, it was widely appreciated by Muslims as they could not assemble in mosques due to Novel Coronavirus outbreak.
Patrick Brown, who is the mayor of Brampton, Ontario, tweeted "Our noise by law originally passed in 1984 only included an exemption for Church bells. It will now include all faiths within the permitted hours & decibel levels. The Muslim community can proceed with the sunset azaan because it’s 2020 & we treat all faiths equally. #Ramazan".
This move was not accepted by Ravi who was a member of ‘School Council Chair’ in Peel District School in Brampton, as he posted a tirade ridiculing the Muslims and their faith under Mayor Patrick Brown's tweet.
Hooda's reply read "What's next? Separate lanes for camel & goat riders, allowing the slaughter of animals at home in the name of sacrifice, bylaw requiring all women to cover themselves from head to toe in tents to appease the piece fools for votes".
As soon as Hooda's derogatory tweet went viral, people complained about it to the Peel District School Board and consequently, the school's principal uploaded a statement on the Peel school website, writing that Ravi Hooda had been pulled out from the school council.
Since Remax Canada's website showed that Hooda was associated with the company, they were dragged into this controversy too, so they took notice of the matter and responded saying that Hooda's contract had been terminated.
The fact that Hooda made that Islamophobic comment while being an immigration consultant is downright appalling.
Indian Judicial Officer in New Zealand Fired on Account of Islamophobic Social Media Post -
Earlier this year, Indians or Indian diaspora have indulged in online hate-speech against Muslims mainly in the Middle East, later also Canada as mentioned above. Several reports that surfaced stated that those people faced consequences.
Another such incident happened in New Zealand, wherein Kantilal Bhababhai Patel, an Indian community leader was terminated as a judicial officer over Islamophobic posts on social media.
He also lost his membership of the Wellington Justices of Peace Association, over “the first case of its kind in New Zealand” as reported by The Indian News in Auckland, New Zealand. One of Patel's post that was considered offensive was endorsing an economic boycott of Muslims in India.
Patel is a well-known community member and a winner of many awards for his work, including the Queen’s Service Medal in 2004, Glory of India Gold Medal from Mumbai in 2005 also a Kiwibank Local Hero award in 2010.
According to, Ann Clark, the Vice-President of the Wellington Justices of Peace (JP) Association, "The Association received a complaint and it was investigated. Mr Patel is no longer a member of the Wellington JP Association".
She also stated that the organisation referred the matter to the national body representing JP and asked them to consult with the Ministry of Peace.
A Justice of the Peace is an unsalaried judicial officer who is responsible for services in the administration of documentation and justice in New Zealand, the officer has powers and duties that include concerns with the private affairs as well as the rights of people from all races, creeds and backgrounds.
Therefore, it demands sensitivity, standards of performance in the role, and the maintenance of high standards in the private and working lives of the JP.
Ms Clark confirmed with the Indian News that a screenshot of an email she sent to the complainant in the case, which was posted on a Facebook group was authentic. She wrote to the complainant that "We were appalled at the posts".
“We have completed our investigation and have concluded that these posts were not consistent with the standards expected of a Justice of the Peace. Mr Patel has been advised of that and the consequences for him. We are in the process of dealing with that,” the Vice President of Wellington JP Association wrote in the email.
Referring to the speed of the government process that would not be normal on account of the restrictions over COVID-19, she added in the email, "As you will appreciate not all the usual government systems are working at this time. Justices of the Peace are appointed through a government process and to cancel that appointment is also a government process. So in the meantime, I hope you are willing to accept the apologises of the Wellington Justices of the Peace Association for the actions of this now-former member of our Association”.
When The Wire made contact, Clark said, “Mr Patel is no longer a member of the Wellington JP Association. The matter you refer to is with the Ministry of Justice".
Conclusion -
Indian News appealed that there is no place for Islamophobia in New Zealand or anywhere else.
In March 2019, New Zealand suffered from the country's worst-ever terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques, which was carried out by an Islamophobic white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people and has now been sentenced to life without parole.
Most of the hate-speech in the Middle East and the anti-Muslim posts by Indians or people of Indian origin emerged on social media following the Indian government’s reporting that there was a group of COVID-19 positive cases of affiliates who had been present at a religious congregation of Tablighi Jamaat before the lockdown began.
This gave rise to a string of fake news and hate posts on social media alleging that Muslims were intentionally spreading the coronavirus.
Along with the sky-rocketing surge in the cases of the coronavirus- Islamophobia and communal hate is increasing too. Islamophobia is a serious concern that puts many lives at risk while taking preventive measures against the deadly virus we also need to take steps in opposition to Islamophobia.
If we want to move forward in life we have to stop stigmatizing an entire community for an incident conducted by a few. So, this fight should not merely be against the novel coronavirus but also against Islamophobia- the unspoken pandemic.
Written by - Ivanova
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