Nobel laureates get frisked

Mr Yaduveer (right) and Ms Pramoda Devi (second from right), wife of the late Maharaja Srikantha Datta Wodiyar, during the opening of the 103rd Indian Science Congress at the University of Mysore on Sunday. — PTI

They did not complain though they were frisked and pushed aside, but half a dozen Nobel laureates, all special invitees, are certain to return home with bitter memories of dishonourable treatment by the local police officers ahead of the inauguration of the 103rd edition of Indian Science Congress on Sunday.

All these Nobel Prize winners were originally scheduled to enter the venue from a special gate, but ended up joining a long-winding queue of VIPs because of a last-minute change in security arrangements, which was attributed to the attack by terrorists in Pathankot on Saturday, and a youth jumping in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s convoy here on Saturday night. Each of them wore a special badge describing their status and was escorted by a member of the faculty of Mysuru University, but had to endure jostling while they waited for their turn to get into the venue. They were asked to give up their cell phones and then frisked by police officers.

Sir John Bertrand Gurdon, 82, who won the coveted prize in 2012, said this was his first unsavoury experience at a science event.

“I have come to the Indian Science Congress held in other cities, but I had not problems like this,” he told this newspaper.

In fact, he encountered trouble again when he entered a special enclosure to meet Mr Modi.

He is scheduled to return home (Britain) soon after his special lecture — “Nuclear reprogramming and prospects for cell replacement in humans” — here on Monday.

It was a first for Prof. Arthur Bruce McDonald, too, who explained how he handed over his cell phone to the faculty member accompanying him before passing through the metal detector to face frisking. This Canadian astrophysicist was awarded the Nobel prize in Physics, jointly with Japanese physicist Takaaki Kajita, in 2015. “Perhaps, this (frisking) is because of the attack by terrorists in Pathankot,” he remarked.

Ironically, all of them were felicitated and presented gold medals by Mr Modi during the inaugural.