Olypub, one of Kolkata’s most iconic food destinations, is in the news for all the wrong reasons, thanks to a Bengali actor-influencer who went the ‘Right’ way.
Sayak Chakraborty, a social media influencer and television actor, alleged on Friday, January 30, that he had been served beef steak instead of a mutton dish at the restaurant. He subsequently lodged an FIR against Olypub and the concerned waiter who allegedly served him beef.
Chakraborty made a live video recording the whole heated interaction and posted it on his Facebook page. His page named ‘Sayak’ has a following of 1.4 million. The 3 minute 47 second video, although deleted from the page, is still circulating across social media. The clip can be watched here:
According to Sayak, while having dinner at Olypub on Friday, he and two of his friends ordered a mutton steak. The server laid a plate of food on their table, without disclosing what it was. Unaware, they ate it, and once the dish was finished, the concerned waiter came with another dish and said, ‘this is your mutton steak’. On further enquiry, the waiter said that the earlier dish was beef steak.
Trouble started from this point.
In the live video, Sayak Chakraborty was heard yelling at the server, which went like this:
“I ordered mutton stake; how could you mess it up and serve me beef instead? How could you hear beef instead of mutton? Do you know I am a Brahmin? I ate beef instead of mutton because of you!”
“What is your religion? Are you a hindu or a muslum?”
The waiter, Nasimuddin Sheikh, meekly said, “Muslim”.
In response, Chakraborty said, “If I force feed you pork, what will you do? Will you allow that to happen? You made me eat Go-Mata!”
In the video, a representative of the establishment is seen trying to de-escalate the situation, verbally rebuking the waiter. The ‘accused’ waiter is also seen apologizing a number of times, insisting that it was a ‘mistake’ and he won’t be negligent in the future. But the influencer, along with a female companion was heard saying, “What shall we do with your sorry? You made us eat Beef.”
According to Chakraborty’s version of the events, they had ordered only one plate mutton steak, whereas the waiter initially said, they ordered two steak, one mutton and one beef. However, when pressurized, he directly went the apology way. It is unclear, whether Chakraborty had really ordered two different dishes, and denied it on record, or the waiter messed things up.
Complaint Lodged at Park Street PS
The situation further escalated as Sayak Chakraborty went to the nearby Park Street police station and lodged a written complaint. Based on that, Kolkata Police arrested Muhammad Nasimuddin. He was sent to judicial custody till February 3.
After lodging complaint, he spoke to the press, standing in front of the police station. Flanked by members of ‘hindu rights groups’, who claimed that they reached the spot after watching the Live video, Sayak said, “I respect Islam, I have many Muslim friends, I even participate in Muslim festivals. But the way they forced me to eat my mother is beyond words. This I cannot accept.”
Once Sayak’s video started getting viral, opinions started to polarize. In the comment section of the now-deleted video, a section of social media users fumed at how somebody could mix up mutton with beef, and indulged in the well-known Right-wing trope of how easily a Muslim could force-feed beef to a Hindu.
According to another section, Olypub openly sells beef and Pork, along with chicken, mutton and fish items. So, a mix-up can happen at times. If Sayak Chakraborty really wanted to maintain the ‘purity’ of his Brahmin identity, he should have refrained from visiting that place in the first place.
Once Olypub started dominating news cycles and trending on social media, Chakraborty came up with another video, clarifying his stance that since he never had beef before, he couldn’t separate the taste of mutton from beef. He insisted that that was the reason why he had finished off the entire beef plate.
This video, too, was later deleted.
Things came to such a passe that the restaurant remained closed on Saturday. On Sunday, the establishment issued an apology on their official social media handles.
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In response, Chakraborty also said in a Facebook post that he was glad that Olypub had ‘apologized’ and he did not want to push the issue further.
Counter Complaint Against the Influencer
Once, the news of the Oly Pub’s waiter’s arrest started circulating, Kolkata based theatre activist Joyraj Bhattacharya lodged a counter complaint against Sayak Chakraborty on Saturday night. He was accompanied by Kolkata high court advocate and legal activist Samim Ahamed.
A small gathering was organized in front of Park Street police station on Sunday evening, condemning the arrest. Speaking to the Alt News, Bhattacharya said, “Sayak Chakraborty deliberately attacked the secular spirit of our Nation. He tried to invoke religious sentiments and create social unrest. We protested this hidden communal motive.”
Some known CPI(M) faces of Kolkata were also present at the gathering. Human rights organization APDR also staged a demonstration in front of Park Street police station on Sunday.
Speaking to Alt News, Samim Ahamed said, “The complaint against the waiter falls under BNS Section 299, which aims to prevent ‘deliberate’ and ‘malicious’ acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or beliefs, corresponding to the former Section 295A of the IPC. The maximum punishment under this section is less than seven years’ imprisonment. In that case, police cannot arrest an accused without a warrant issued by the magistrate. They can only summon the accused and interrogate him. But the police over exercised their power in this case.”
However, a Kolkata Police officer, speaking to Alt News on condition of anonymity, said, “If police feel, they can take a person into custody to preserve law and order and protect life and livelihood. They can do that.”
“We believe there is a bigger conspiracy. Police should take Sayak Chakraborty into custody to get to the bottom of the thing. They pounced on a poor man, marginalized by his religious identity,” Bhattacharya said. Reiterating the ‘larger conspiracy’ angle, Ahamed added, “We are trying to add on the BNS 196, 299, 61 and 353 sections respectively in our case against Sayak Chakraborty.”
All these sections have provisions to tackle and control communal enmity and flare-ups.
Alt News tried reaching out to Sayak Chakraborty, but his phone remained switched-off.
Initially starting off as Olympia Bar and Restaurant in 1947, the Park Street venue got rechristened as Olypub in 1981. The fine dining place, owned by a Parsee family from the very beginning, is famous for dishes made from various cuts and types of meat, including fish, chicken, mutton, beef and pork.
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