Two months after the Supreme Court stayed a controversial order that made it mandatory for eateries to declare the names of their owners and staff, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has issued a similar directive.

While the last order had initially come through district authorities to prevent “confusion” among Kanwar Yatra participants, the fresh one has come with the chief minister taking cognisance of incidents of spitting and mixing of urine in eatables.

This month, the owner of an eatery in Saharanpur was arrested after a video which allegedly showed a teenager spitting on rotis. A juice vendor in Ghaziabad district was also held for allegedly serving beverages mixed with urine.

This also comes amid a Hindutva conspiracy theory of “spit jihad”, amplified in light of the fresh incidents with a new spin called “juice jihad”. Sections of the mainstream media have also thrown around these terms while reporting on the two arrests this month.

Adityanath had earlier banned the sale and purchase of meat in the open along the kanwar routes in the state as a mark of “respect” for devotees. The state government has imposed similar bans during previous yatras. Such curbs were also put in place in several other areas across the country, including parts of the national capital, during Navratri.

In recent years, there have also been calls by right-wing groups for an economic boycott of Muslims.

In July this year, while officials said the Kanwar Yatra decision was to prevent “confusion” among devotees, several opposition leaders and rights groups had called it a flagrant violation of constitutional norms and an attempt to target the Muslim community.

Newslaundry had reported how the direction was being enforced and how Muslim vendors were hit.

The new instructions

Adityanath on Tuesday directed that the name and address of operators, proprietors and managers should be mandatorily displayed at all food centres. He also said that chefs and waiters should wear masks and gloves, besides making installation of CCTV cameras in hotels and restaurants mandatory. 

At a high-level meeting, the chief minister said the presence of human waste in food items was disgusting and ordered strict action against those who adulterate food items with human waste or dirty things, an official statement said.

“Dhabas, restaurants and food establishments should be thoroughly investigated and police verification of every employee should be done and necessary amendments should also be made in the Food Safety and Standards Act to ensure the purity and sanctity of food items.”

According to PTI, Adityanath said that incidents of adulteration of food items like juice, pulses and roti with human waste and “dirty things” have been seen in various parts of the country. “Such incidents are gruesome and have an adverse effect on the health of the common man. Such efforts cannot be accepted at all,” he said.

However, the report quoted UP Congress chief Ajay Rai as saying, “The GSTIN number in the nameplate of the hotel/eatery owner already contains all the details, and the government has them. And as far as edible items are concerned, their testing should be done. The wrongful practice of taking money every month virtually from every shop should be corrected first.”

On July 22, staying the police orders in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand on display of owners’ names at eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route, a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti had said: “Until the returnable date… we deem it appropriate to pass interim order prohibiting the enforcement of the above directives. In other words, the food-sellers… may be required to display the kind of food they are serving to the kanwariyas but must not be forced to disclose the names/ identities of the owners or employees.”

“It is permissible for the authorities to ensure that the kanwariyas are served vegetarian food conforming to the standards of hygiene and conforming to their preferences… In furtherance of this, the competent authority may, perhaps, issue orders under The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 or The Street Vendors Act, 2014, but the powers vested on the competent authority cannot be usurped by the police without any formal order supported by law,” the bench said.

“If the intention is to provide only vegetarian food to the Kanwariyas, the impugned directives requiring the food business operators to display the names of their owners and employees, is contended to be contrary to constitutional and legal norms prevalent in our country.”

Complaining about the media is easy. Why not do something to make it better? Click here to subscribe to Newslaundry and The News Minute.