Four artists from Dastaan Live booked for insulting religious sentiments

Four musicians from a band, Dastaan Live, performing at the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa, were arrested on Wednesday and later released on bail for allegedly insulting Hindu sentiments.

The four artists, Sumant Balakrishnan, Anirban Ghosh, Shiva Pathak and Nirmala Ravindera, who were performing as part of a musical show curated by well known Bollywood music director Sneha Khanwalkar were arrested under section 295-A of the Indian Penal Code (insulting religious feelings), following a complaint by Venkat Krishna Kunduru, a Supreme Court lawyer.

According to the police, in his complaint Kunduru has alleged that members of the Dastaan Live band during a concert in Panaji late on Tuesday, insulted the “Hindu religion by chanting Om with abusive languages like ‘Ullu ka Patta’ and displayed walks of life with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of Hindu citizens”. Speaking to reporters, investigating officer attached to the Panaji police station PSI Subhash Gaonkar said that the four musicians had been released on a bail surety of Rs 20,000.

“They have been let off on condition that they will be cooperate with the probe,” the official said. While the organisers of the festival could not be contacted for comments at the time of writing, a brief descriptor of the Dastaan Live event on the Serendipity Arts Festival’s website states: “We live in the world’s largest democracy. However, there is a parallel narrative unfolding in the streets, the villages, the rivers and the forests of India. Values that we took for granted...” Serendipity Arts Festival is a multi-disciplinary art festival which is being held in Goa from December 15-22. (IANS)

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