Noida: Two BTech students hired as trainee engineers by a Noida-based company through campus interviews have accused their employers of discrimination after they were sacked just a month into the job.The students have alleged they were terminated from their jobs for offering Friday prayers on their office premises, a charge denied by the company that said they had found the two to be under-performers.Mohammad Kashif (22) and Shamsher (22) are final-semester students of civil engineering at Glocal University in Saharanpur. They were hired from the campus by Corporate Resource Centre, a consultant, for Spatial Geotech Private Limited (SGPL), which has its offices in Noida (Sector 52). The duo moved to Noida and joined SGPL on February 15."I found two more Muslim candidates at the workplace. When I asked them where they offered Friday prayers, they said they did not," Kashif said on Tuesday. He claimed all four of them requested some time off on Friday to attend weekly prayers at a mosque. Kashif also said the four offered to work extra hours in the evenings to compensate for the time they would be away but the company refused to grant permission.The four then offered Friday prayers in an office corner, which allegedly earned them a reprimand from a senior official. Kashif claimed they were warned not to "disrupt the office environment" but they did not realise that a reference was being made to the prayers since the official's comment was an indirect one.The Friday after, the four again offered prayers inside the office. This time, Kashif claimed, they were called to the office of Annu Gupta, co-director of the company, shown CCTV footage of them praying. Last Friday, at the end of the work day, Kashif said he received a call when he was stepping out. "You need not to come to office from tomorrow. Please also convey the message to Shamsher," he quoted a company official as telling him over the phone. The official also allegedly told him an explanation had been conveyed to their university.Gupta, however, dismissed these claims and told TOI the two trainees were terminated for 'under-performance' and they were also found "intoxicated" in office. "The information has been shared with their academic institution," she said.The email to Glocal sent by the placement consultant said the two trainees had to counselled by the director with regard to their current performance but even after that, and being given ample time given to learn and improve, there was no change in their performance. The two, the email added, were often found intoxicated at work, to the extent that they were unfit to be entrusted with duties.Glocal officials confirmed the development but said the allegation of intoxication at the workplace against the students was absurd. Kashif and Shamsher had no record of such indiscipline on campus, said a member of the university's placement cell, adding, "The two students said they were terminated as they had offered prayers. We spoke to the consultant and with company officials. They said this was a result of under-performance. This is a pioneering university and we maintain complete neutrality in teaching and nurturing students."

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