145;Forget the medal, safekeep its values146;

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has refused to blame the Viswabharati museum authorities for the theft of Tagore8217;s Nobel medal and other invaluable objects, saying burglaries take place even at the best protected places in the world.

8216;8216;I don8217;t know how they were kept and what care was taken to protect them. But I know burglaries do take place even at the best protected places in the world,8217;8217; Sen said on Sunday on his arrival at Santiniketan.

Sen, who received the Nobel prize in Economics, came to Santiniketan on Sunday where his 92-year-old mother Ameeta Sen still lives.

Refusing to call the theft a national crisis, Sen said: 8216;8216;People die of hunger or riots and I think that is a national crisis. A medal is a piece of metal but what it reflects is some ideas, some values. What is important is to uphold those ideas or values.8217;8217;

Sen in Kolkata on Sunday. PTI