Four musicians arrested for insulting Hinduism, bailed

Police in Goa on Wednesday arrested four musicians for allegedly hurting religious sentiments while performing at a concert as part of the Serendipity Arts Festival, which is being held in the coastal state.

The four musicians, who are members of a popular band Dastaan Live, performed at a concert organised as part of the Festival’s itinerary on Tuesday. They were arrested on Wednesday under section 295-A (insulting religious sentiments) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after a Supreme Court lawyer Venkat Kunduru complained before the Panaji town police station, alleging that the quartet insulted Hindu religious sentiments during their performance.

In his complaint to the police on Wednesday, Kunduru alleged that the group 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 the performance late on Tuesday, curated by noted Bollywood music director Sneha Khanwalkar, who has lent music to popular films like Gangs of Wasseypur I and II as well as Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye.

The four musicians were arrested and released on bail on a surety of Rs 20,000.

“They have been released on bail on the condition that the accused will co-operate with the police probe,” police sub-inspector Subhash Gaonkar, attached to the Panaji police station told Deccan Herald.

Officials of the Serendipity Arts Festival were unavailable for comment at the time of writing the news story.