BENGALURU: A disc jockey (DJ) allegedly assaulted a person for requesting to play Kannada songs at a pub in Koramangala late on Saturday night. The police have booked a case and arrested the DJ, who claimed the incident had nothing to do with language and he assaulted the customer for hurling filthy abuses.
The alleged incident took place at Badmaash, a pub located in Koramangala. Sumitha and her cousins had gone to the pub to celebrate one of their birthdays. Sumitha told reporters that her cousins requested the DJ, Siddarth Mehrotra, to play a Kannada song. He told them he would play the song, but did not.
"At 12.30 am, the DJ stopped the music. When my cousin asked the DJ why he didn't play the Kannada song, he behaved rudely with us, told us we should not come to such places and asked us to get out. When my cousins objected to his behaviour, he held one of my cousins by the collar and assaulted him. He was stopped by the staff," Sumitha alleged.
Following the incident, Kannada activists protested in front of the pub at Sunday noon and took the pub manager, Dominic, to task.
Dominic, who apologised for the incident, said usually they play Kannada songs, but there was a problem on Saturday night. "From now on, we will ensure that DJs play Kannada songs. I sincerely apologise for yesterday’s (Saturday's) incident," he said.
As Sumitha and her cousins refused to file a formal case, the Koramangala police took a complaint from another customer who was present at the pub at the time of the alleged incident. The police booked Mehrotra for assault, wrongful restraint, criminal intimidation, and arrested him.
"The DJ admitted that he assaulted one of the customers for hurling filthy abuses at him. He also showed us videos of him singing and playing Kannada songs and claimed language had nothing to do with the incident. He told us that it was the rude behaviour that prompted him to assault the customer," an officer said.