Photo Credit: Sonal Manohare
Over the past several years, music festivals around the globe have served as a special place for attendees to experience something truly beautiful and bring together people from all corners of the world. But going by a recent report by Hindustan Times, then it seems like music festivals are facing some serious terror threats.
Earlier yesterday, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) claimed in a special court that five recently arrested members of the Hindu right-wing group Sanatan Sanstha had planned to plant explosives at last year’s Sunburn Festival which took place from December 28-31 in Pune. While the group has distanced itself from them and said they are not its members, ATS officials claimed in court that two of the accused planned to attack the famed Indian music festival because they felt it was “against Hindu culture”.
Notably, Sunburn Festival hosted its eleventh edition in 2017 which also hosted performances by the likes of DJ Snake, Martin Garrix, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Clean Bandit amongst several others. Moreover, the five accused were involved in throwing petrol bombs outside cinema halls in Kalyan and Belagavi for screening the Hindi movie ‘Padmaavat’ which had been at the center of controversies earlier this year. ATS further claimed that the accused planned to attack individuals who they thought were propagating or engaging in activity that was “against the Hindu religion”.
While last year’s Sunburn Festival proved to be yet another successful edition for the organisers which took place without any trouble, this report arrives as a disturbing bit of news for people around the country. While we at Bangin Beats hope that justice gets served soon enough, stay tuned for the latest updates.
Source: Hindustan Times