Hindu Man Mistakenly Eats Beef, Begs Supermarket For Tickets To India For Cleansing

One of the most well-known facts about Hinduism is that cows are sacred to the religion. Unfortunately for one Hindu man, he mistakenly ate beef that was labeled as ‘lamb’. Now he is begging the supermarket that sold him the meat to pay for his flights to India so he can be cleansed after breaking his vow.

Jaswinder Paul of Blenheim, New Zealand purchased a package of lamb roast from the local Countdown supermarket. Although he cooked and ate the meat without any thought, it has since been revealed that the package of beef was mislabeled. Paul was horrified when he realized that he had eaten beef since the purification process is a difficult one.

Cows are sacred to Hindus.

However, Paul ended up eating beef because the package was labeled as ‘lamb roast’.

Paul has suffered a lot since mistakenly eating beef. His family has reportedly stopped speaking to him until he is purified, a process that can be truly costly for him.

“According to my religion, I have to go back to my country and do sacred things for four to six weeks, and be purified by priests, so I can continue on my religious path. It’s a long process,” Paul said.

If Paul returns to New Delhi, India, he would have to temporarily close down his shop Headmaster Barbers, costing him income. In addition to that, he will need to pay for flights, accommodations, and meals on the trip. This is why he is begging Countdown to compensate him for at least his plane tickets.

Paul kept a portion of the meat as evidence.

A Countdown spokesperson addressed Paul’s issue in a statement.

“Unfortunately, in September last year, an error with our in-store labeling resulted in a pack of our beef mince being sold with both beef and lamb labels, which was incorrect and obviously very confusing,” she said. “We’re deeply sorry that this happened. We very much appreciate and respect Mr. Paul’s beliefs and certainly, there was no intent to incorrectly label the product.”

Countdown has since offered Paul a $200 gift voucher, which he refused. He has yet to hear from the supermarket about the plane tickets he wants.

“I don’t want to go to court against a big corporation. I just want to go home,” he said. “I understand this looks like a simple matter, but for me, this is very hard. I break my religion [vows] because of someone else’s negligence. I know my society back from my home will not accept me with this breach of the religion’s conditions.”

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