Bangalore Woman Denied A Home Due To Religious Discrimination, Her Story Goes Viral

A woman’s tweet about being denied housing on the basis of her religion has gone viral. The woman was searching for houses in Bangalore and shared that she was rejected after they learned about her faith.

The woman, Haifa posted screenshots of her interactions with homeowners where she was asked about her faith and was denied the house after they learned about her religion. She captioned the post, “If everyone is done celebrating the 75th anniversary of independence, here is how I spent my Aug 15th.”

The first screenshot showed Haifa being asked if she belonged to a Hindu family and she replied by saying she wasn’t. She asked whether that was a problem, and was told it was an issue as the owner wants a Hindu family. In the second screenshot, the owner asked for her name and then asked if she was a Muslim.

Bangalore Woman Denied House

Netizens were divided as some suggested she file a complaint on the basis of religious discrimination and said they were disheartened that Haifa was going through such a situation. Meanwhile, other users said that owners have personal preferences and it is up to them to choose.

Several users mentioned that many people were denied in their search for a home because they ate non-vegetarian food. Others justified the owner’s behaviour and said that bachelors are also often denied a house because they “invite trouble”.

A Twitter user shared his experience with house hunting. He wrote, “Faced same in Mumbai. One uncle said, “I don’t have any issue with Sikhs, but have issue with non-veg”, without even asking if I eat non-veg or not.”

A small group on the internet believed that fake screenshots were being shared and that it was a ploy to gain attention. Other users responded with their negative experiences with searching for homes and said that being denied housing due to religion was a common experience.

One user advised Haifa to inform her broker that she was not interested in hearing about landlords that discriminated on the basis of religion or food restrictions. She added that the step would not take away from the discrimination, but would make the process of finding a home slightly easier.

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