Online rogues face arrest for abusing Kashmiri girls' band

It is learnt that the Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act has been invoked by J&K police against a bunch of online hecklers and bullies, who issued threats on life and circulated hate messages against an all-girl rock band from Kashmir, 'Praagaash', which has been in news for the last couple of days.

Under the Section of the IT Act, online offenders could be put behind bars for 3 years, fined upto Rs 2 lakh, or face both.

'Praagaash' was founded only last January by three Kashmiri school girls-Noma Bhatt, vocalist and rhythm guitarist, Farah Deeba (aka Farwona), drummer/founder and Aneeqa Khalid, bass guitarist-as in their Facebook page records.

The band, the name of which means 'from darkness to light', won an annual music competition, Battle of Bands, in Srinagar last December. Just after a month, an Islamic cleric, Grand Mufti Bashir-ud-Din Ahmad, termed them un-Islamic and issued a fatwa against them on Sunday.

The unfortunate development must have left the band members with no other choice than leaving their Facebook page. First it was Noma and soon after, Farah also called its quits the very day.

As with most other recent instances on freedom of expression, the contentious issue led to the band getting support and solidarity from various quarters, including the Women's Commission, music fraternity, politicians and other citizens of the country.

The teenage girls, however, seemed a determined lot, as they had spelt out clearly on their band's official FB page that being the only girls' band in Kashmir, they do draw a lot of criticism, "but we will show everyone what we have in store for you guys."

As per latest news streaming in, the girls have given up and decided to disband their troupe in the light of the fatwa.

(This news was first published on www.ciol.com)