Punish partisan policeman, say minorities

MUMBAI: A joint delegation of Christians and Muslims met police commissioner Ranjit Sharma last week and complained about the manner in which the Malad police had handled an incident at a Malad school on February 7.
The Carmel of St Joseph school for girls, was picketed by Shiv Sena and BJP activists who alleged that the school authorities had distorted the verses of Rabindranath Tagore.
Mr Sharma assured the delegation that he would look into complaints of partisanship and high-handed behaviour against the assistant commissioner of police (ACP) of Malad division M.B. Kurne.
"Mr Sharma also assured us that he would examine whether the public notices put up by the Malad units of the BJP and Shiv Sena were inflammatory," said Abraham Mathai of the state minorities commission,who led the seven-member delegation.
Shiv Sena and BJP activists, led by local BJP corporator Parul Mehta, had put up posters and picketed the school, saying it had sought "to poison innocent minds against Hindu temples".
They were objecting to a question in the English unit test paper for the school''s ninth standard students on January 9 where a verse from Rabindranath Tagore''s ''Gitanjali'', attacking religious orthodoxy, was quoted.
The All-India Christian Council has condemned the manner in which ACP Kurne and another police officer allegedly barged into the principal''s room shortly after the morcha and berated her and other teachers for insulting Hinduism.
"Both officers, who had removed their name badges, refused to listen to my contention that the school had merely reproduced the question from the SSC board exam paper of October 1999," said Sister Shalom, the principal, who was part of the delegation.
"The behaviour of ACP Kurne has created insecurity in the minds of the school''s teachers," said advocate Saeed Akhtar of the Secular Activists Watch, one of those in the delegation.