A United States-based company has suspended an Indian employee over hateful comments made by him against Kashmiris on the social media.
Ashish Kaul, who worked as a consultant in India for Development Dimensions International (DDI) — a management consultancy service — called for killing and violating Kashmiri women in a tweet on May 8, the Quint reported. In another comment, he called for the people of Kashmir to be “killed economically.”
An FIR was also filed against Kaul on May 12 by the Jammu and Kashmir Police. “Police in Kashmir took cognizance of the matter after it found tweet posts were abusive and attracts offences covered under law,” the J&K Police said in a statement, the Indian Express reported. The police stated that the FIR has been registered under sections of the Information Technology Act.
Kaul’s posts invited widespread criticism on the social media, with many asking for action to be taken against him. His Twitter as well as LinkedIn accounts have been taken off, and Kaul has been suspended by his employer.
“We were shocked and saddened by the nature of these posts, which are in direct violation of our mission and values,” DDI’s CEO Tacy Byham and president David Tessmann-Keys said in a statement on May 12.
The company accepted Kaul’s resignation.
https://twitter.com/hussain_aadil/status/995145173905518593
The move was hailed by social media users.
“Hatemongers, BEWARE! Ashish Kaul who spewed venom against fellow Kashmiris through a series of tweets has been shown door by his U.S. employer. More encouraging part of the story is; Muslims and non-Muslims-Kashmiris and non-Kashmiris alike had together raised voice against the vituperation,” Twitter user Yusuf Jameel posted.
DDI also took to the social media to condemn Kaul’s comments.
We are taking this situation extremely seriously and acted immediately. Here is our full statement on the matter: https://t.co/M2kb9UcsdK
— DDI (@DDIworld) May 13, 2018
Even though Kaul’s Twitter account was deactivated on May 12, many social media users took screenshots of his comments and circulated them.
“As soon as we learned about the social media posts, we immediately suspended the employee and launched an investigation to determine the full scope of the issue,” the company said in the statement.
The police have asked Twitter India to furnish details of Kaul so he can be arrested and made to face the law, Greater Kashmir reported, citing a police spokesman.