Several people including comedians Varun Grover, Vir Das, and Rohan Joshi have criticized the arrest of stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqi during his show at a cafe in 56 Dukan area in Indore and stood in his support.
Two days back on Friday, Gujarat-based Comedian Munawar Faruqi was arrested for allegedly making indecent marks made against Hindu deities and Union Minister Amit Shah. Four others identified as Edwin Anthony, Prakhar Vyas, Priyam Vyas, and Nalin Yadav. It is also reported by some sources that the comedian was thrashed by the complainant and his associates.
The complaint was registered by the son of BJP MLA Malini Gaur, Eklavya Gaur. Eklavya Gaur along with his aides had gone to the comedy show where Faruqi was performing. Gaur along with associates stopped the show and took Munawar Faruqi and four others to the Tukoganj police station. They also submitted videos of the show.
“A case was filed late on Friday night against stand- up comedian Munawar Faruqui, a resident of Junagadh in Gujarat and four Indore-based persons based on a written complaint filed by Eklavya Singh Gaur, who also submitted a controversial video footage of the comedy show,” said in-charge of Tukoganj police station, Kamlesh Sharma.
The accused were arrested under Section 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), Section 269 (unlawful or negligent act 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) of Indian Penal Code.
Their bail pleas were rejected by a local court and have been sent to judicial custody. While his lawyer Asad Warsi communicated that they will file a bail plea on Monday.
Gaur while talking to the media houses, said, “When I heard about Munawar’s show, I bought a ticket and went to see it. As expected, he was insulting Hindu deities and also mocked Home Minister Amit Shah by dragging his name with Godhra riots
“After purchasing the tickets, my associates and I went to the comedy show, where Faruqui was performing as the main comedian. The show mocked the Hindu deities by passing indecent comments. The Godhra incident and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were also mentioned inappropriately during the show,” said the convener of local outfit Hind Rakshak, Eklavya Gaur.
He further stated, “such objectionable talks were going on during the comedy show. We made a video of them and stopped the show by taking the audience out of the cafe. Then we caught the comedians and organizers of the show and took them to Tukoganj police station.”
He also alleged that over 100 spectators were sitting in a small hall of the cafe and had violated the social distancing norms formulated in view of the pandemic.
However, inspector Kamlesh Sharma has stated that there is no evidence against the comedian directly and he has been booked as an organizer. He also said that the two videos that Gaur submitted in the police station are of another comedian. “There’s no evidence against him for insulting Hindu deities or Union Minister Amit Shah,” said Kamlesh Sharma.
On Sunday, Jenosha Agnes, who claimed to be one of the audience members of the Friday show wrote in support of the stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqi on Instagram, “As Munawar arrived on the stage, few people with political connections rushed to the stage, snatched the mic and began saying ‘hamare religious sentiments hurt hue hai… Godhra kand per joke kiya… Hamare devi devta ka mazak udaya… Islam pe joke q nahi karta hai. Munawar politely clarified that he never had the intention to hurt anyone. He handled the situation very well and they backed off.”
Their bail pleas were rejected by a local court and have been sent to judicial custody. While his lawyer Asad Warsi communicated that they will file a bail plea on Monday.
Comedian Varun Grover criticized the arrest and assault in an Instagram post stating, “A fellow Indian, a fellow comedian is in jail and got beaten up by a mob because of the words he uttered. Here he’s trying to logically, calmly present his case but our systems now just want to brutally silence every voice… They don’t want to hear, they don’t want to even argue — they want to simply erase every shred of individual thought, every iota of reason.”
Another comedian Vir Das tweeted in support of Munawar Faruqi, “who has ever tried to control humour, now has a category of jokes devoted to them”. “You can’t stop jokes and laughter. Not because comedians are performing it, but because people need to laugh. Harder you try, the more you’re going to be laughed at, now, and by history.”
