The Madhya Pradesh High Court of Indore bench dismissed a bail application filed by comedian Munawar Faruqui.
On the 28th of January, during a court hearing, a single bench by Justice Rohit Arya said, “no case is made out for grant of bail.”
Comedian Munawar Faruqui and his aide Nalin Yadav were arrested on the 2nd of January for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Hindus.
However, there was no evidence against Munawar Faruqui and his arrest was based on the claims of the son of a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In addition, a vigilante group Hind Rakshak Sangathan (HRS) also alleged the comedian of hurting Hindu sentiments.
Mr. Faruqui was to perform at Café Munroe, at Indore’s 56 Dukan at a New Year event when members of the HRS posing as audience stopped the programme. He was later arrested by the Indore Police on the 2nd of January and has now spent more than three weeks in jail.
His bail plea was also rejected thrice in the past few weeks.
In today’s hearing, the Court said that it was not commenting on the merits of the case as the investigation was under progress.
The judge noted in the order, “The evidence/material collected so far, suggest that in an organized public show under the garb of standup comedy at a public place on commercial lines, prima facie; scurrilous, disparaging utterances, outraging religious feelings of a class of citizens of India with deliberate intendment, were made by the applicants.”
Meanwhile the People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) has issued a statement strongly condemning the incarceration of comedian Munawar Faruqui.
Stay tuned for further updates.
