[Reader-list] Brahmin priest punished for Muslim kid care

[Pawan Durani]

A news which caught my eye.....

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1208036

KOLKATA: A Brahmin priest was made to atone for inviting a Muslim kid to his
house for dinner. The Trinamool Congress village panchayat humiliated the
50-year-old priest in public.

They made him and his family undergo a ritual cleansing bath and then made
him cut nails of his family members. They next asked him to shave his head,
but he refused.

Lakshmikanta Chakrabarti, a Brahmin priest at Chandramer village in West
Bengal's East Midnapore district, is very fond of Sheikh Chottu, a Muslim
orphan who works at a garment factory near his house.

Chottu being his son Shankar's friend, he got to meet him more often. The
friendship was not objected to, but elected representatives of the village
panchayat did not appreciate the priest inviting the kid for dinner.

Panchayat deputy chief Adhikari and panchayat member Narayan Chandra Maiti
summoned Chakrabarti to an open court and ordered him to atone. They made
him take a cleansing dip with his family and cut their nails.

Chakrabarti obeyed to save his job. The panchayat  next ordered him to shave
his head. But the old priest would yield no more. So the panchayat leaders
ordered boycott of his priestly services at the local temple and at
individual houses.

Chakrabarti approached the police but no help was given. The police now
claim ignorance about the whole incident. Senior Trinamool Congress leaders
promised help but nothing has been done yet.

Their aloofness, however has only served to strengthen Chakrabarti's
resolve. "If necessary, I will leave my house with my family and take
shelter on roads," he said.
Panchayat member Trilochon Gorai said he had heard of the incident but was
not sure if it was true. "I will look into it. In all probability it is a
conspiracy to malign our members," he said.