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A young Muslim man in Assam has alleged he faced religious discrimination after applying for a mechanical engineer post via the popular job portal Indeed.

Shamim Barbhuiya had applied for a job post at a unit in Bihara Railway Station Yard in Silchar through Indeed. The job description stated, “Candidate must be Bengali by birth and Indian by birth and should know three major languages.”

A railway station yard can involve both government (regular) and outsourced (contractual) employees in India, as Indian Railways (IR) employs its own permanent staff for core functions and outsources non-core or auxiliary works like maintenance and cleaning on a need basis to improve efficiency.

After clearing the recruitment stages, the HR offered Shamim a salary of Rs 18,000. However, the official asked him to join after September 6 sans the offer letter, The Observer Post reported.

“They told me to come to the office to join, but I began doubting their claims since I wasn’t given a joining letter. When I asked about it, my question was dodged,” he said.

After several attempts the HR asked, “Are you a Hindu or a Muslim?” When Shamim replied he was a Muslim, the official said there was no vacancy, leving him shocked.

Shamim is deeply hurt by the blatant religious discrimination. “As a job seeker, I always believed opportunities are based on merit and hard work. But being judged on religion instead of capability made me realise that bias is still a barrier for many deserving candidates,” he was quoted by The Observer Post.

“This is not only unethical but goes against the very principals of equal opportunity in employment guaranteed by our Constitution,” he said.

Shamim emphasised that companies and HR professionals should prioritise transparency and uphold diversity in their hiring practices. He also called on job platforms like Indeed to take strict action against such practices when provided with evidence.

This is not an isolated case of religiouys discirmination against Muslims. In July this year, Kashmiri nursing students in Bengaluru were allegedly stopped from attending class for wearing a hijab. In Kolkata, an assistant professor resigned from ciolleges stating she was harassed for wearing a hijab.

A 2024 data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) stated that Muslim workforce fell from 22.1 percent in 2018-19 to 15.3 percent in 2022-23, a steep decline of 6.8 percentage points.