A Tamil Nadu doctor, Christianez Ratna Kiruba, took to X (formerly Twitter) to recount an instance of religious discrimination she faced due to her husband's religion. In her post, she described how a police officer, who visited her home for passport verification, refused to drink tea or coffee from the same utensils her family used. He cited religious differences as the reason, asking, "You're Muslims, right?" Her mother-in-law served him a drink in a separate glass bottle to accommodate him, which the family did not use.
Kiruba further explained that while she accepted the officer’s choice to refuse the drink, she was most disturbed when he asked her brother-in-law to finish the leftover beverage. She found this remark particularly disrespectful. This was the first time she had experienced such blatant discrimination, adding that it was both shocking and traumatic.
A Christian married to a Muslim, Kiruba remarked that South India had shielded her from such experiences. Still, this incident exposed the inequalities she felt were more prominent in the North. Her post resonated with many on X, amassing over a million views, with others sharing their own stories of discrimination. Some users lamented how society has changed, while others criticized the officer’s actions and questioned the inconsistency of such discriminatory attitudes.
Kiruba is an Internal Medicine doctor and a freelance health writer who graduated from CMC Vellore.