HC stays police probe involving Dastaan band members

Panaji, March 11 (IANS) Three months after four musicians from the Dastaan band were arrested on charges of insulting religious sentiments during the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa, the Bombay High Court bench here on Wednesday stayed the ongoing police probe and granted the quartet interim relief.The petitioners, who had been booked under section 295(a) (insulting religious sentiments) of the Indian Penal Code in December last year, had sought quashing of First Information Reports filed against them by the police in Panaji.Hearing the petition, Justices M.S. Jawalkar and MS Sonak have also issued notices to state government agencies, including the police department, returnable by March 30.The four artists -- Sumant Balakrishnan, Anirban Ghosh, Shiva Pathak and Nirmala Ravindran -- who were performing as part of a musical show curated by well-known Bollywood music director Sneha Khanwalkar were arrested after a complaint by Venkat Krishna Kunduru, a Supreme Court lawyer, who had alleged that the quartet had offended Hindu sentiments during their performance.The complaint filed by Konduru said that the musicians had offended the Hindu religion by chanting Om with abusive words during the performance at the Serendipity Arts Festival, a multi-disciplinary festival which is annually held in Goa.
--IANS maya/prs