New Delhi: The Uttarakhand government has issued detailed guidelines for preventing instances of people spitting in food and has also announced a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh.
The other measures include mandatory police verification of hotel staff and installation of CCTV cameras in their kitchens, reported Press Trust of India.
The Uttarakhand government’s guidelines come right after the Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh announced that it is set to bring in a new stringent law to curb incidences of contamination of food and beverages with human waste, spit, inedible items or other filthy material.
The guidelines were issued by the Uttarakhand police and health department after Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami termed such incidents as “thook (spit) Jihad,” saying that strict action will be taken against offenders.
Uttarakhand DGP Abhinav Kumar said the offenders will be booked under Section 274 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (adulteration of food and drink intended for sale) and section 81 of the Uttarakhand Police Act (arrest without warrant for creating public nuisance, knowingly spreading rumours or causing false alarm to mislead police, fire brigade or any essential service) and in case the act has an adverse effect on religion, ethnicity, language etc., then action should also be taken under relevant section 196 (1) (B) ( promoting enmity between different groups based on religion, race, language, place of birth, or residence) or 299 of BNS (deliberate and malicious acts that are intended to insult the religious beliefs or religion of any class of citizens in India).
