Court Refuses Bail To Comedian

Mumbai-based standup comedian Munawar Faruqui denied bail

The Madhya Pradesh court rejected bail on Tuesday to the Mumbai-based standup comedian Munawar Faruqui and four others who were arrested last week in Madhya Pradesh (MP). The arrest of all the five were made after a complaint was registered by the BJP MLA’s son stating that “indecent” remarks were made on Hindu deities during his performance in a show that was held in MP. The Additional District Session court judge Yatindra Kumar Guru rejected the bail plea for Faruqui after hearing the arguments for both sides. The chief judicial Magistrate on January 2 also rejected the bail plea for the comedian and others arrested along with him.

The lawyer of Faruqui, Anshuman Srivastava on Tuesday said that the allegations leveled against his clients are ‘vague’ and mentioned that they were booked under political pressure. He added that they are all actors and didn’t make any comment to hurt the religious sentiments of any person. The prosecution lawyer Vimal Mishra opposed the bail plea with an argument that the accused had participated in the event for which no permission was taken from the local administration in the middle of the serious pandemic.

The complaint was filed by Eklavya Singh Gaur (36) who is the son of Malini Laxman Singh Gaur a BJP, MLA. Gaur said that he had gone to the show as an audience where he had passed the indecent comments. They then raised objections to his comments and created a ruckus at the event and later stopped the show forcefully.