A 25-year-old woman professional was allegedly refused a flat by a builder as she belongs to the minority community. This comes a few days after an MBA graduate was denied job by a diamond export firm on <g data-gr-id="28">similar</g> ground here.
An activist has taken up the matter with the National Commission for Minorities seeking a probe into the builder's "discriminatory policy."
Misbah Quadri, who works with a Public Relations agency, had been living in an apartment at Kandivali since the time she shifted from Gujarat a year ago. Recently, she tried to move to a flat in Wadala but met with the shocking response from the builder of the apartment.
"After a lot of <g data-gr-id="35">searching</g>, I finally found a house at Wadala and paid a deposit of Rs 24,000 through a broker. A night before I was to move in, I got a call from the broker, warning me not to shift there as it is the builder's policy to not have Muslim tenants. I tried to reason with him but he did not oblige," Quadri said.
She claimed that the broker asked her to sign an "NOC" declaring that if she faced any harassment from her neighbours because of her religion, the builder, the owner and the broker "would not be legally responsible."
"I had to move into the flat though I did not agree with the terms because the notice period with my previous flat had expired and there was nowhere I could go. After a week, the broker called me again and asked me to leave. I had no option then but to leave the flat. Presently I am staying at a paying guest accommodation in Bandra," she said.
Quadri said when she approached the representative of the builder who has an office in the same building, she was told that it was a policy of theirs to not give homes on rent to Muslims. "He also said that maybe 5-6 years down the line they may start renting flats to Muslims," she said.
Meanwhile, activist Shehzad Poonawala, in a petition filed before the <g data-gr-id="33">commisison</g>, has prayed that an inquiry be conducted into the allegation to ascertain whether the builder has a discriminatory policy against a religious community, which involves violation of the constitutional provisions.