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3 arrested in ‘Pragaash’ controversy remanded to police custody for 9 days

SYED BASHARAT. Dated: 2/8/2013 1:44:02 AM

26 facebookers under scanner

SRINAGAR, Feb 7: The police today arrested three persons in connection with the abuses and threats on a social networking site to Pragaash--the all-girl rock band of Kashmir that quit singing following these threats and an opinion given by Kashmir’s Grand Mufti Bashir-u-Din Ahmad that singing is “un-Islamic” and girls should abandon it.
All the three accused--Irshad Ahmad Chara, resident of S D Colony, Batamaloo, arrested late last night, Tariq Khan, apprehended from SK- Colony Anantnag, in South Kashmir and Rameez Shah arrested from Ganderbal in central Kashmir last night were produced before a local court here that remanded them to police custody for nine days.
Sources in police said that the three accused have been charged under sections 153-A RPC (promoting enmity between classes), 66A of IT Act and 506 RPC (criminal intimidation) in the Rajbagh police station here. Section 153-A being a non bailable offence warrants four years imprisonment extendable to 10 years.
Following these arrests, the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted, “I'm glad the police in Kashmir has identified and arrested people for the online threats made to the girls... I'm told more arrests are possible.”
Officials here said Internet Protocol addresses of the 26 users whose comments, out of the total 900 posts on the band's Facebook page, were found abusive are being tracked down by the police. Officials added that the delay of three days in lodging the FIR (5/2013) was due to large number of posts on the Facebook page of Kashmir's all-girl band ‘Pragaash’ that took time to get scanned.
The all-girl band was forced to call it quits following the online threats and an opinion by Grand Mufti Bashiruddin Ahmad given to media that singing was 'un-Islamic' and that the girls should abandon it.
After the December 2012, competition, Pragaash was both applauded and derided on Facebook. Strangers ridiculed them for being un-Islamic because they had performed in public before unknown men. The three girls, tenth-grade students who are 15 and 16 years old, recalled being scared by the Facebook messages, but said over the weekend that they were determined to continue to play after the furore dies down.
As the media storm grew, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, expressed his support for the girl band, and called for a police investigation into the threats. “I hope these talented young girls will not let a handful of morons silence them,” he said on Twitter.
In separate interviews, the three girls stressed that they just want to play music and don’t want to be convenient examples for the media, forced to play the stereotypical role of “Muslim girls who break down conservative barriers.” However, these girls have told various news channels that it was due to Grand Mufti’s opinion and the public sentiment involved that motivated them to quit.
Meanwhile, the families of all the three persons arrested by police in connection with online threats and abuses to Pragaash, have condemned the police action against their family members saying that the three arrested persons are ‘innocent’ and are not involved in any kind of hate campaign against the girls rock band.
According to the family members of Tariq Ahmad Khan son of Abdul Majid Khan of SK Colony Anantnag, police raided their residence at around 10 pm on Wednesday evening and picked up Khan for questioning. “We resisted his arrest but police assured us that he will be set free after questioning at police station Anantnag. We went to the police station along with him where he was put under detention,” said his family members.
They said police later told them to visit police station Raj Bagh on Thursday along with his credentials as he is under questioning for posting “threatening and abusive” comments on Facebook to Pragaash. Khan has recently completed his post graduation in English literature from Kashmir University.
Under the same circumstances police arrested Rameez Ahmad Shah son of Mohammad Shafi Shah of Babawayal, Ganderbal. According to family members of Shah--a class 12th student, police picked him up at his residence at around 11 pm on Wednesday for questioning.
They said police asked them to approach Raj Bagh police station as he would be under questioning for hatred and threatening comments to Pragaash. Sources close to the family of Irshad Ahmad Chara of SD Colony, Batamaloo said Chara was also arrested during the nocturnal raid. Chara’s family has also termed his arrest unwarranted and uncalled for.