the goan I network
PANAJI
Muscle-flexing by the ideologically Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party found shape on Wednesday in that party-ruled Goa when Panaji police arrested four musicians of the reputed and popular ‘Dastaan Live’ band for allegedly hurting religious sentiments in a performance at the ongoing Serendipity Arts Festival.
The four musicians had performed on Tuesday as part of the Serendipity Festival’s pre-arranged itinerary on Tuesday. On Wednesday, a lawyer who claimed to be practicing in the Supreme Court of India, lodged a complaint that they insulted the Hindu religion and the four were arrested by the Panaji police.
The four members of the band -- Sumant Balakrishnan (34) and Anirban Gosh (37), both from Delhi, while Bengaluru’s Shiva Pathak (40) and Nirmala Ravindran (45), were arrested and charged under section 295-A (insulting religious sentiments) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
All the four artistes were however granted bail by the court of Panaji’s judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) and the police released them on furnishing sureties of Rs 20,000 each.
Police sub-inspector Subhash Gaonkar who is handling the case said that one Venkat Kunduru filed the complaint before the Panaji police station in which he alleged that the band insulted the sentiments of Hindus with their performance. “The band insulted Hindu religion by chanting ‘Om’ with abusive language like ‘Ullu ka Patta’ and displayed walks of life with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of Hindu citizens,” read the complaint Kunduru filed on Wednesday.
Kunduru alleged that the band performed the objectionable act during their performance late on Tuesday night.
Interestingly, the performance of Dastaan Live on Tuesday was curated by music director Sneha Khanwalkar, who shot to fame with the scores of Bollywood hits Gangs of Wasseypur I and II besides Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye.
Meanwhile, the unsavoury episode has rattled dozens of artists who have descended in Goa from all parts of the country as well as overseas to perform and participate in this fourth edition of the Serendipity Festival.
Organisers of the festival, meanwhile, were unavailable for comments but some participants claimed that the Dastaan Live episode has prompted the festival to resort to scrutinizing scripts from the artists, artistes and curators of the multiple events and projects lined up here on.
There were also reports that some visual art exhibits at the festival had also been taken down but there was no confirmation of the claim from the Festival organisers.
An official of the Festival’s public relations arm responded saying: “There is no comment from the Festival organisers.”
