By Rajan Narayan

THE company Spacebound Web Labs Pvt Ltd, which owns the Sunburn brand, has filed a Rs100 crore legal notice on all opposition MLAs and all sections of the media including Time of India, Heraldo, The Goan, TV channels In Goa 24×7, RDX and online publications. Notice has also been served to X and Meta corporation owners of Facebook/Twitter and even Google.
Among the politicians served with the notice of defamation are the south Goa Member of Parliament Venzy Veigas. The AAP MLA captain Viriato Fernandes, the Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao, the Velim MLA Cruz Silva and senior advocate Cleofato Almeida Coutinho. Among the online publications which have received notice are Daily Scoops Media, Indian Express Online and Goychi Fuddle Pilge. We are not surprised because this is just the kind of brash action that Sunburn property owner Shailendra Mehta is capable of taking against critics of Sunburn.
This kind of threatening brashness of Shailendra Mehta was evident during last year’s 2023 IFFI, when he asked Hollywood producer actor Michael Douglas some embarrassing questions during an interaction with the audience. The latest example of serving a legal notice is clearly an attempt at intimidating critics of Sunburn.
It may be recalled that all the MLAs to whom notice has been served and the south Goa MP Venzy Veigas have been very critical of Sunburn. Advocate Cleofato Almeida Coutinho has been very vocal in his objections to Sunburn. The legal notice targets all sections of media including print, and electronic and online digital media.

CM & SOME SPARED
SIGNIFICANTLY, neither Chief Minister Pramod Sawant nor any of the MLAs belonging to the ruling BJP, have been served notice of defamation. This includes the BJP minority MLAs including Nilesh Cabral, Mauvin Godinho and Babush Monserrate. Michael Lobo is the only BJP MLA who has welcomed Sunburn and offered to hold it in his Calangute constituency after it was rejected by all the south Goa opposition MLAs. Sunburn had sought permission to shift the Electronic Dance and Music Festival (EDM) mega international event from Vagator, where it was held last year, to a destination in south Goa.
The initial suggestion was the Sunburn festival could be held in the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) property in Cortalim in south Goa. There was fierce opposition to the proposal from Captain Venzy Veigas and other south Goa MLAs. Some alternate locations proposed in South Goa were also rejected by the Panchayats of the venues proposed. Sunburn then tried to shift the venue to Thivim in Mapusa, north Goa. This was opposed by Congress MLA from Thivim Nilkanth Halarnkar. Advocate Carlos Alvarez who is an MLA of neighboring Aldona, also vehemently objects to the location of Sunburn in Thivim.
Even before Sunburn could secure formal permission for the venue it had allegedly started inviting bids for providing various services at a venue. This included invitations to food and beverage outlets as well as Goan music groups who might wish to participate in the Sunburn EDM festival traditionally held between December 28-31 every year since 2007.
The first venue was in Calangute on property belonging to former Calangute MLA Agnelo Fernandes. Subsequently, the Sunburn shifted to Vagator which is part of the constituency of Delilah Lobo. Indeed, both Michael and Delilah Lobo participated in the Sunburn festival in 2023. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has been non-committal on giving permission to the Sunburn festival. Minister for Law & Environment Alexio Sequeira has also been sitting on the fence claiming that he would follow all legal procedures. At the time of writing though the event is fast approaching no formal permission has been granted by the government of Goa.

DRUGS, DRUGS
THE main objection to the Sunburn EDM festival has been allegations that it has been a major venue for the sale and consumption of recreational narcotic drugs. There has however been no direct evidence that the organizers have promoted or encouraged the selling and consumption of drugs at the venue. The only public reported case was the death of a young lady due to a drug overdose on the beach close to the venue. The Calangute MLA Michael Lobo who was present at the Sunburn event last year insisted that he saw no evidence of drugs being promoted, being sold or consumed at the venue during three-day event.
Another major complaint against Sunburn is noise pollution. Unlike live music concerts, Sunburn is an electronic music festival where sound at very high decimals is played continuously at the venue. It’s a deafening kind of music and the issue of noise pollution was raised anew in the run-up to Sunburn last year.
The Goa Bench of the Bombay high court asked the government to strictly regulate the level of noise so that it was within permissible limits. The North Goa district magistrate was directed to monitor the sound levels during the festival. In fact, on a couple of occasions, the music was stopped because it exceeded permissible limits. There have been objections from the locals not only about Sunburn but the playing of amplified sounds by night clubs in Anjuna and Vagator too. Even beach shacks have been accused of noise pollution.
The Siolim MLA under whose jurisdiction Anjuna and Vagator fell even took a morcha to the Anjuna police station to protest against noise pollution. Delilah Lobo complained that the police did not take action on the complaint filed by her against nightclubs which were causing sound pollution.
Several politicians sympathetic to Sunburn have objected to the event being scheduled between December 28 and till New Year’s night past December 31, 2024. A request by Sunburn to extend the event to January 1, 2024 was refused by the government. It has been pointed out that the holding of Sunburn during the peak of the peak season puts a great burden on Goa’s fragile infrastructure.
The Christmas New Year season witnesses a huge increase in the number of tourist coming to Goa. There is a severe shortage of accommodation. There is also pressure on transport since literally thousands of taxis are hired to attend Sunburn. The main objection to the extension of Sunburn to New Year’s Day was that it would impact midnight mass on December 31. This is the reason why the Sunburn organizer was asked to wind up by noon on December 31.

DEFAMATION JUST RUSE
THE defamation notice served by itself is not a matter of immediate concern. This is because even in normal course defamation cases take years to be completed. The large number of individuals and institutions served notices will result in further delay. The fear is that the courts may be inclined to give provisional permission subject to conditions to the Sunburn event. There is a precedent in that the festival was permitted last year by the courts subject to monitoring of noise pollution.
The problem with defamation cases is that individuals and institutions which have made allegations against the organizers of Sunburn will be asked to provide proof of their charges. The main allegation against Sunburn for promoting the sale and consumption of drugs has never been proved. It is of course possible that there is no political will to file cases against Sunburn. The police are unwilling to even lodge complaints of noise pollution, let alone charges of sale and consumption of drugs.
The much more important argument against Sunburn is that it is not part of Goan culture. Goa has always favored live music concerts over EDM music. There is no denying the fact that Sunburn has been attracting a very large number of high-net-worth young people from all over the country. Sunburn is considered the biggest EDM festival in Asia. Goa is one of the venues where the EDM festival has been organized.
Recently, there was a report that a Sunburn EDM festival scheduled in Rishikesh in Himachal Pradesh had been cancelled due to opposition from the locals. The ball is in the court of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. The CM is under pressure from both some politicians and the media to stop the Sunburn EDM. Public opinion not only in south Goa but even in the north has turned against Sunburn. Though Michael Lobo invited Sunburn to Calangute the panchayat passed a resolution objecting to Calangute being a venue for the festival.
However, this selective serving of defamation notices by the Sunburn owner creates the impression that the BJP government, including former Congress MLAs, are in favor of Sunburn.