MasterChef India row after judges allow cheese to be used in fish round

The judges of MasterChef India have been criticised on social media for letting a vegetarian contestant use cheese (paneer) instead of fish for a cooking challenge.

Aruna Vijay used paneer while four others cooked with salmon as they competed to win an "immunity pin" that would save them from being knocked out.

The judges didn't give a reason for their decision.

Other contestants didn't seem to object in the episode that aired on Friday.

The current season of MasterChef India, which is streaming on the SonyLIV app, has three celebrated chefs as judges - Vikas Khanna, Garima Arora and Ranveer Brar.

The controversial decision, which occurred in Episode 35, was presented in a matter-of-fact way, and Ms Vijay did not seem surprised to hear that she would be allowed to use paneer.

Reports have said that Ms Vijay had also refused to cook a dish using eggs earlier in the show. She is from the Jain community, known to be strict vegetarians.

The recent decision led to some criticism on social media, where some viewers accused the judges of favouring Ms Vijay.

Others, however, praised her for holding on to her religious beliefs.

The judges and the show's producers have not reacted yet to the criticism.

Ms Vijay's dish - stuffed squash with strawberry and basil sauce - received mostly positive comments from the judges and she came second in the round.

While India is often stereotyped as a largely vegetarian country, several studies have challenged this - some researchers, in fact, have said that only about 20% of Indians are actually vegetarian.

But food, especially meat, is often a divisive and controversial issue in the country due to religious and political fault lines.

In 2014, the producers of MasterChef had generated controversy for announcing an all-vegetarian season of the show - the restriction was removed after a couple of seasons.

But while contestants can cook with egg, chicken and seafood, beef and pork are never used on the show.

India's majority Hindu population worships the cow as a holy animal. Under Islamic law, Muslims are banned from eating pork.