India's top court blocks rule said to divide eateries by religion

NEW DELHI: India’s top court on Monday temporarily suspended directives issued by two state governments requiring eateries to display the names of their owners, local media reported, following criticism the rule was intended to divide restaurants by religion.

The rule was imposed last week by neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand states — both ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — along a route taken each year by thousands of Hindu pilgrims during the holy month of Shravan.

In its interim order Monday, the Supreme Court said that while shops need not specify their owners’ names outside, they should display the food items on offer, the legal website LiveLaw reported.

The court will take up the matter again on Friday.

The Uttar Pradesh government, which was the first to implement the rule, had said it was meant to maintain the purity of the faith of the pilgrims, known as “kanwarias”.

Many devout Hindus refrain from eating meat and fish during the holy month of Shravan.

But detractors of the move, including allies of the Hindu-nationalist BJP, said it was meant to stop the pilgrims from patronising eateries owned by Muslims.

Both Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have witnessed simmering sectarian tensions in the recent past, with critics accusing the two states’ BJP governments of persecuting minority Muslims.