A Hindu businessman has filed a negligence suit against the management of a hotel after he consumed salmon fish which was contaminated with beef, online Malaysian portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT) has reported.

The businessman, Ganesalingam Kanagaretnam, said he suffered a nervous shock as a result of the incident early last year. In his statement of claim filed last month, he named Hilton Petaling Jaya, which is under THR Hotel (Selangor ) Bhd, as the defendant.

He said he patronised the hotel frequently to conduct his personal and business affairs and had his meals at its Paya Serai restaurant. The 60-year-old said in the past he had advised the hotel management to separate beef from other food to respect Hindu guests.

He said the hotel had assured him it would rectify the matter and that it was sensitive to the feelings of Hindu patrons. Feeling assured, he said he went for a meal at the Paya Serai outlet with a friend.

Ganesalingam said on the day of the incident he inadvertently consumed salmon contaminated with beef as both dishes were placed side by side. “The plaintiff realised this when he was going for his second helping,” said the statement of claim made available to FMT.

Ganesalingam said he felt nauseated and rushed to the washroom where he vomited. The court papers said he left the restaurant severely distraught and distressed and this was witnessed by his friend and other patrons at the place.

He said the suit was filed as the hotel management had no respect for Hindus by serving food that was contaminated with beef even though the he had previously advised them to address the matter and they had assured him that they would rectify the matter.

The defendant, who filed the defence last month, said it was not required under law to separate beef dishes from other food. The defendant added the Paya Serai Restaurant served international buffet, which is served at a specific section of the buffet table.

“The beef dish is commonly served at the international buffet,” it said. The defendant said even if the beef dish is placed in the same warmer with other dishes, both were served in separate containers.

Ganesalingam, in his reply to the defence, said the hotel management had shown disrespect to him as a follower of the Hindu faith. “Our action is based on the tort of negligence, not for breach of contract,” he added.

Beef vs Halal

Beef is forbidden food for Hindus, jut like non-halal meat is forbidden for Muslims, albeit for entirely different reasons. While Hindus hold a special affection for the cow and consider it a sacred being, Muslims eat only halal meat (halal is Arabic for permissible) i.e. meat of animals slaughtered through a cut to the jugular vein, carotid artery and windpipe, in which the animal dies slowly while all blood is drained from the carcass while Islamic prayers are chanted. Pork is also forbidden for Muslims as per several Quranic verses.

So strict is the Muslim demand for halal meat that many companies are now providing only halal meat, even if they serve more non-Muslim customers. Even APEDA guidelines in India state that all meat for export is slaughtered by halal system under ‘strict vigilance of Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind as per the tenets of Islamic Shariat’, even though a bulk of the meat is exported to South East Asian countries like Vietnam etc.

But while Hindus are chided, mocked and shamed for allegedly imposing their no-beef eating habit on others, the same cabal of left-liberals has nothing to say when halal meat is forced on non-Muslims. Just imagine the outrage if a Muslim customer in a non-Muslim country were to be inadvertently served non-halal meat in a hotel, or if pork were mixed up with other kinds of meat? All liberals would be demanding that Islamic eating habits be respected. But you can rest assured that not many will stand by Ganesalingam Kanagaretnam – as a Hindu, he will be told to ‘get on with it’, ‘stop being obsessed with food purity’, ‘do in Rome as Romans do’ – some might even try to educate him with stories about how Vedas allow beef eating.

The anti-Hindu bigotry has reached such an advanced stage that even pure vegetarian restaurants are now being demonized as Brahminical/upper caste-only apartheid zones in web series like Anurag Kashyap’s Sacred Games.

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