Three arrested for online attack on J&K all-girl band

Zeenews Bureau Srinagar: Even as the support grows for Kashmir’s all-girl rock band who quit music after religious zealots threatened them, the Jammu and Kashmir Police have arrested three youth for allegedly putting up threatening posts against the band ‘Pragaash’. A special investigation team (SIT) of Jammu and Kashmir Police had arrested Tariq Khan from Bijbehara in South Kashmir and Rameez Shah from Ganderbal in central Kashmir yesterday evening, a third yet unmanned suspect was picked up today morning. Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Ashok Prasad has sought help from all central agencies to apprehend all those who had hurled online abuses at the all-girls band, reports said. He has also directed stepping up of patrolling in the areas where two of the three girls of the band group reside. As per reports, police have started tracking down 26 IP addresses from where abusive comments were posted on the band`s Facebook page. The police action came after an FIR was lodged in the case under Section 66A of IT Act and Section 506 RPC (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. The all-girls band `Pragaash` (darkness to light) has three Class 10 students vocalist-guitarist Noma Nazir, drummer Farah Deeba and guitarist Aneeka Khalid as its members. The first live performance of the band at Srinagar`s music festival `Battle of the Bands` in December had created ripples in the Valley. But their euphoria was short-lived as the girls soon started receiving online threats for defying convention by choosing the field of music, leaving their parents worried and forcing them to keep a low profile. However, after the Grand Mufti of Jammu and Kashmir Bashiruddin Ahmad issued a decree, terming the bands singing as "un-Islamic" and asked the girls to abandon it, the girls fell in line and announced that “they quit”.