EDISON, N.J., July 19 (UPI) -- A New Jersey restaurant may be sued for accidentally serving meat to a Hindu group, a state appellate panel said Tuesday.
On Aug. 10, 2009, a Hindu group ordered vegetarian samosas for its India Day celebration from Moghul Express in Edison. The restaurant said it didn't use meat to make its samosa pastries, and the samosa tray provided to the group was marked vegetarian, The (Newark) Star-Ledger reported.
After several diners became concerned the samosas contained meat, the restaurant admitted it had confused the group's order with one for meat-filled pastries, the newspaper said.
The diners who ate the meat pastries said they are now impure spiritually and must travel to India for a special purification ritual in the Ganges River.
"If you follow the scriptures, it's definitely a huge cost," said Mehul Thakkar, a spokesman for the Yogi Divine Society in Lake Hiawatha.
Pradip (Peter) Kothari, president of the Indo-American Cultural Society in Edison, said he was unaware of the lawsuit but said he thought it should have been dismissed.
"This is a hypocrisy of religion and a hypocrisy of the law. They can go to a temple here and ask God for forgiveness. God is not going to punish you for doing something unknowingly," Kothari said.
The diners' suit, alleging negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, consumer fraud, products liability and breach of express warranty was dismissed by a lower court last year. But the three-judge appellate panel said the litigation could go forward on the warranty breach claim because the restaurant assured the group it was getting non-meat samosas.
