'It was a nightmare'
By: Shaheen Parkar
Date: 2008-10-08
I'm no fool: Sana Panscholi.
Picture: Rane Ashish
The 21-year-old daughter of Bollywood actors Aditya Panscholi and Zarina Wahab, Sana was among the revellers detained after the rave party raid at Bombay 72 East, Juhu. She feels the revellers with known surnames have been unnecessarily targetted and come under the scanner. The wannabe actress recounts her nocturnal outing that turned into a nightmare
For Technodrome"I paid Rs 700 to attend the party as Israeli DJ Technodrome was to perform. He is supposed to be really good. I had heard a lot about him and as I love electronic music, I went along with a bunch of friends. My brother Suraj was not there with us. The bash was heavily advertised on Facebook and all my friends had received invitations.
Surprise raid
Initially, we were on the top floor where another bash was going on. It got over at about 10 pm and we went over to Alfredo's in the vicinity for a quick bite. At around 11 pm when I had just entered Bombay 72 East, suddenly all the exit doors were shut and we were told to line up as a raid was being conducted.
It took us by surprise we were not doing anything wrong. It was just another harmless night out with pals. We were physically searched first and then all our belongings were searched. I was carrying this bag, which contained a box of sweets, they kept on sniffing at it as if they were drugs! They claim that the youngsters were taking drugs. I did not see anyone take Ecstasy pills or LSD.
Why target us?
Maybe some were but you can't target everyone. I am not a fool to smoke or take drugs. Or for that matter anyone else. When one does this, one needs to take care, don't we know the consequences? Now anyways smoking is banned at public places. The cops made us all out to be drug addicts. What proof did they have? Why target us youngsters and rough us up. Catch the drug peddlers, not us.
After the physical searches, all the girls were bundled into one police van and taken to JJ hospital. We were packed like cattle in a van, there must be at least 60 of us. We reached JJ at around 1 am where blood and urine tests were conducted.
Each one of us were asked several questions and made to sign numerous forms without even telling us what they were. We were at J J Hospital till 9 am and not even a glass of water was provided to drink. It was a nightmare.
All for music?
My mother is in Hyderabad. I did not call my dad because I did not want him to panic. I only called a friend of mine and told her what was happening. It was only when I reached home at 11 am the next day that I informed dad about the nightmare. I explained everything to him and all this was only because I happened to be there to listen to some great music."
As told to Shaheen Parkar
Article Source: Mid-Day
