Beef, caste and racism made up the contents of three different emails received by Melbourne-based IT recruiter Mandy Bose to her official work email address.
The emails threaten her of "dire consequences" if she does not understand, follow and pay due respect to Indian values and culture in Australia.
The sender also threatened to "approach the Immigration department if she continued with it."
While the first email warned her to stop consuming beef at her workplace and to advise her colleagues not to consume beef (which is considered as sacred by the Hindu majority in India), the other emails warned her not to recruit non-Brahmins and to put an end to racism at work by ensuring a higher intake of Indian applicants.
STOP EATING BEEF
"I got three different emails, and basically one email was mentioning about not eating beef at the workplace and [said there has] got to be more understanding of Indians' nature, belief and culture and respecting that," Mandy told SBS Malayalam.
Mandy says the email instructed that she was "not supposed to eat beef and they are warning me to advise my colleagues not to eat beef."
"And we all have to stay away from eating beef because it is like a sacred thing in India and I should respect that."
Dismissing it as a funny email, Mandy deleted it. She was then surprised to receive a second email in a few days time with entirely new content.
"RECRUIT MORE INDIANS"
The second email warned her to recruit more Indian applicants, saying they are "highly intellectual and skillful compared to other communities."
The sender also threatened to take serious measures against her unless she recruits only Indian applicants.
“The whole email said, you have to start recruiting more Indian migrants and Indian applications because we are intellectually very great and very skillful people than the other community," says Mandy.
Being of Indian origin herself, Mandy was annoyed and perplexed with this email and forwarded it on to her IT department.
Email that threatens to recruit Indian applicants Source: Mandy Bose
"DO NOT RECRUIT NON-BRAHMINS"
Along with Mandy, her colleague also received the third email. Mentioning it as the worst, Mandy says the final email she received demanded her to follow the Indian caste system in Australia.
It warned her to stop recruiting "lower caste people or non-Brahmins" and to "recruit only Brahmins," who are considered as the higher caste in Indian caste system.
"You cannot recruit people from other castes," the email read. "Because I am a Brahmin I want to work with Brahmin type of people." "I don’t want to recruit any lower caste people that really is an insult to me. So never recruit any Indians other than Brahmanas."
Email that states- recruit only Brahmins Source: Mandy Bose
Deciding not to reply, the frustrated recruiter forwarded it to the IT department from where she came to know that a serious scam trying to inflame the Indian community is rampant.
Mandy feels that it is an attempt to tarnish the image of the Indian community among other Australians.
The IT recruiting company has warned its employees not to open any such emails if they receive them again. The company is also planning to file a complaint officially and take further steps if this continues in future.
Threatening emails are bullying: Worksafe Victoria
Worksafe Victoria pointed out that threatening emails can be considered as bullying.
According to the spokesperson for Worksafe Victoria, Kate Murphy, "Bullying is persistent and repeated negative behavior which is directed at an employee which is at risk to their health and safety and that can be anything such as name calling, excluding people from social events, unwanted emails, threats, even physical abuse.
"So in instances like this Worksafe advises the people contact the Worksafe Advisory Service and our people on the advisory line will be able to advise what steps people should take next."
As to how to proceed in a situation like Mandy's, Ms Murphy says, "It can be very distressing and upsetting to people."
"So I think probably the most important thing would be for those people to take an appropriate action that they feel comfortable with.
"It might be going to their manager or supervisor or the HR department and seeking some advise or making an official complaint or more it could be calling the Worksafe Advisory Service."
Ms Murphy told SBS Malayalam that deciding whether or not to ignore such emails really depends on the individual and how these emails make them feel.
"To some people they might be comfortable with ignoring the emails. But certainly for people who feel threatened, or who feel worried or upset, then Worksafe will definitely advise these people to take it further."
'Untouchables' amongst us
SBS Radio has earlier reported that some in Indian community warn that caste or so-called untouchability was creeping into daily life here in Australia.
Listen to Mandy's full interview (in English) with SBS Malayalam here:
