JOIN USFIR against musicians booked for hurting religious sentiments quashed by Bombay HC
Nearly two years after members of an alternative band 'Dastaan Live' were booked and arrested for allegedly hurting religious sentiments during a live performance at an arts festival in Goa, a Bombay High Court bench has quashed the FIR and slammed the state police for being insensitive while dealing with issues related to "freedom of speech and expression".
In their order, Justices MS Sonak and MS Jawalkar also slammed the hurry with which officials at the Panaji police station filed the first information report, almost instantly after the complaint was filed.
"The police authorities are expected to be quite sensitive in such matters, because what is at stake is the freedom of speech and expression. Therefore, unless the complaint discloses the ingredients of the offense under section 295-A of IPC, it is not expected of the Police authorities to rush and register an FIR in such cases,” the order by the Bombay High Court's Goa bench states. “There was no justification whatsoever for the Police Inspector to hurriedly register such an FIR, possibly without even going into the complaint or for that matter the provisions of Section 295-A of the IPC," the order adds.
Four musicians from the band namely Sumant Balakrishnan, Anirban Ghosh Shiva Pathak and Nirmala Ravindera were arrested soon after their performance at the popular Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa in 2019. 'Dastaan Live' was performing at the festival as part of a musical event curated by Bollywood music director Sneha Khanwalkar, after a complaint was filed by a lawyer at the Panaji police station.
The complainant had alleged that the band members during the live concert had insulted “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” during their performance.
In its order, the Bombay High Court bench also slammed the police for not carrying out due diligence and making the artists apologise for their performance, saying the police had no justification to exhort an apology.
“There was no justification whatsoever to call some of the petitioners to the Police Station and require them to apologize or to arrest them, no sooner the FIR was registered,” the order said.
“To simply allege that ‘OM’ which is a symbol of the complainant's faith ‘in negative narrative’ or ‘abusing people chanting the OM and followers to Hindu stream as Ullu ke Patta’ is by no means sufficient to spell out the ingredients of Section 295-A of the IPC. Further, to allege ‘blasphemy of my religion and sentiment of hundred crores of India and few million abroad’ also does not spell out the ingredients of Section 295-A of the IPC,” it added.
The High Court order also states that the police had filed the FIR and arrested the band members "without even bothering" to read the complaint.
"Even the police authorities registered the FIR, literally the minute the same was lodged, perhaps,without even bothering to either read the complaint or the provisions of section 295-A of the IPC. The FIR records that the same was lodged at 13:17 hours on 18.12.2019 and the same recorded also at 13:17 hours on the same date,” the order said.