Indians have a special kind of love for cows as they are considered very sacred in Hinduism. Cows are referred to as ‘mother’ by Hindus. Imagine what might have happened when the man learnt that he had eaten beef.
Yes, you read it right. According to a portal, Jaswinder Paul who had bought package labelled as lamb roast from Countdown Blenheim in September realized after eating that it was actually beef.
He said, “According to my religion, I have to go back to my country and do sacred things for four to six weeks and be purified by priests, so I can continue on my religious path. It’s a long process.”
As he has to close his shop Headmaster Barbers, to travel to India costing him the income he wanted the supermarket to pay for his expenses of the trip. He also claimed that ever since he has eaten beef, his family has not talked to him.
A spokeswoman from the supermarket reached him and apologized for the mix-up.
She said, unfortunately, in September last year, an error with our in-store labelling resulted in a pack of our beef mince being sold with both beef and lamb labels, which was incorrect and obviously very confusing.” The spokeswoman also added, “We’re deeply sorry that this happened. We very much appreciate and respect Mr Paul’s beliefs and certainly, there was no intent to incorrectly label the product.”
However, the store has replaced the product and even offered Paul a gift voucher of $200 which he had declined. For months there was no response from Paul on the issue then finally on Feb 27, he turned up demanding for a trip to India but the store offered him what they did earlier.
Paul has said that he would seek compensation through court. He said “I don’t want to go to court against a big corporation. I just want to go home. I understand this looks like a simple matter, but for me, this is very hard. I break my religion [vows] because of someone else’s negligence. I know my society back from my home will not accept me with this breach of the religion’s conditions.”
Beef served to Team India at Lord’s, BCCI tweets menu
Also, it was reported that Paul has been accused of underpaying vulnerable workers by the Employment Relations Authority. Paul has hired 7 employees through his company R.K.K. Enterprises, who were to work at Stokesay Vineyard. However, ERA member found out that Paul was underpaying them and taking advantage of “vulnerable” workers on transient visas as they had poor English skills and no understanding of their rights.
In November 2018, the ERA had ordered Paul to pay more than $20,000 in penalties and unpaid wages to vineyard workers who had been paid less than half of the minimum wage. Paul said that while R.K.K Enterprises belonged to him, he had closed it and moved onto Headmaster Barbers in Blenheim.
Now there are possibilities that the two situations that occurred one after others might have some connection with each other.
