Comedian Munawar Faruqui’s bail plea has been rejected by the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday. The comedian was under arrest for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. The court denied the bail stating that it was the constitutional duty of every citizen to promote harmony.
Munawar and his four allies were arrested by the Indore police on 2nd January following a complaint by Eklavya Gaur, the leader of right-wing group Hind Rakshak Sangathan and son of BJP MLA Malini Gaur. The complainant had alleged that the Munawar insulted the religious sentiments of Hindus.
However, ever since the arrest, there are reports that the comedian has been booked for a crime that he did not commit. There has been much debate on the actions of the authorities. Indore Town Inspector Kamlesh Sharma reportedly said that there is no evidence against Munawar for insulting Hindu deities or Union Minister Amit Shah.
Munawar’s bail plea was first rejected by a Madhya Pradesh High court on January 5. Then, on January 13, Chief of Indore police Vijay Khatri had acknowledged that there was no substantial evidence against him, yet he defended his arrest. On January 14, Munawar moved the Madhya Pradesh High court to seek bail. However, the bail plea was again rejected and his judicial custody was extended till 27th January.
On 25 January, Justice Rohit Arya rejecting the bail plea earlier had said “why you take undue advantage of other’s religious sentiments and emotions. What is wrong with your mindset? How can you do this for the purpose of the business?”
On January 1, stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqi was scheduled to perform at Café Monroe in Indore on the occasion of New Year. Faruqui along with his fellow performers Prakhar Vyas, Priyam Vyas, Nalin Yadav, and event coordinator Edwin Anthony were booked under IPC Section295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), Section 298 (uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person), Section 269 (Whoever unlawfully or negligently does any act which is, and which he knows or has reason to believe to be, likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life), Section 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and Section 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).
Besides, another FIR has also been filed against Munawar in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh for charges of hurting the religious sentiments of people and committing offenses affecting communal harmony.