Meesho removes T-shirts with images of Lawrence Bishnoi after backlash

Mumbai: Popular online fashion platform Meesho and Teeshopper removed t-shirts with pictures of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi following outrage over glorifying criminals.

A post on platform X on November 4 showed t-shirts with images of the gangster for INR 166.

Some t-shirts branded Bishnoi as ‘hero’, while others had ‘gangster’ printed on them.

The t-shirts triggered outrage on social media with many criticizing Meesho for glorifying criminals on its platform.

Filmmaker-journalist Alishan Jafri termed it as an example of "India's latest online radicalisation" alongside pointing out that t-shirts were also sold on platforms like Flipkart.

Jafri called out that selling apparel with image of Bishnoi along with term ‘gangster’ glorifies criminal figures.

Furthering highlighting, Jafri said that some products that target children raise alarms about them potentially influencing young minds.

Many on social media came down on the online retailer with some users suggesting that Meesho should be ‘de-platformed’.

Following which, the company announced removal of the product claiming that it remains 'committed to providing a safe and trusted shopping'.

A spokesperson for the company said ‘We have taken immediate action to deactivate the products. Meesho remains committed to providing a safe and trusted shopping platform for all our users’.

A Google search for the same products gave the results from a Meesho page that the product was 'out of stock.'