Indian sacked in Saudi for 'offensive remarks' on Sabarimala row

Riyadh: A Keralite expat in Saudi Arabia has been sacked from his job for allegedly posting offensive remarks on women amid the Sabarimala temple row, the media reported.

Deepak Pavithram, an employee of Lulu Hypermarket in Riyadh, was fired on Tuesday for making misogynist and insensitive comments about women on the social media, the Khaleej Times reported.

Pavithram also deleted the Facebook post following the outrage.

V. Nandakumar, Chief Communications Officer at Lulu Group, told the daily: "We have a strict and zero tolerance policy with regard to our staff misusing social media to spread malicious or derogatory comments which might hurt religious sentiments.

"All GCC nations are home to a large cosmopolitan population from almost all countries in the world and we respect their sentiments, culture and religious beliefs," he said.

Kerala expats in the Gulf took to social media to express their appreciation for Yusuff Ali MA, Chairman and Managing Director of Lulu Group, for taking a strong step against the derogatory remarks, the report said.

In a ruling on September 28, the Supreme Court had allowed entry of women aged between 10 and 50 into Sabarimala temple in Kerala.

This is the second termination in recent times by the Indian-owned hypermarket chain and retail company on similar grounds.

In August, it terminated the services of a Keralite expat in Oman after he posted distasteful comments about flood victims in Kerala. The company took action against him even though he apologised for the remarks the next day.