In Modi's India, comedians can now be jailed for 'intent' to tell a joke - as Munawar Faruqi found out asiaone.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from asiaone.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Five Men Arrested For One Complaint. All Denied Bail. BJP Opposition And Its âGodi Mediaâ Spoke Up Only For The Muslim Man
by Swati Goel Sharma - Feb 12, 2021 10:44 AM
Munawar Faruqui (Twitter).
Snapshot
Most of the criticism has referred to Faruquiâs Muslim identity to say he has been victimised for his religion.
This is in line with their propaganda of Muslims being âpersecutedâ under the âHindu nationalistâ BJP government.
A case of alleged blasphemy recently registered in Madhya Pradesh, which is currently governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is being hotly debated and criticised by opposition leaders and anti-BJP media.
Anubhooti Gupta
As 2021 dawned, stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui was arrested from a club in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, for âmocking the deities of another religionâ and no one uttered a word about intolerance.
Faruqui was arrested by the Indore police after a complaint from Eklavya Goud, chief of Hindu Rakshak Sangathan and secretary of the state unit of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the son of BJP MLA Malini Gaud.
Faruqui remained in jail for over a month, though the police had no evidence of his âcrimeâ. His bail plea was rejected two times, including by the Madhya Pradesh High Court, until he was granted bail on February 5 by the Supreme Court.
INDORE: Among those caught up in the Munawar Faruqui row are two brothers from Indore an MBA student, who was starting out as a standup comic, and his minor sibling. Police hadn’t revealed that one of the accused was a juvenile and some officers even named him before mediapersons, which is against the law.
It’s only when TOI met the family that it was learnt a schoolboy had been arrested and spent a week in juvenile remand. The MBA student and three others arrested in the case are still in Indore jail. The family says the student went to Faruqui event to try out his dream of being a standup comic.
Updated Jan 18, 2021 · 11:03 am
The Prayagraj Police in Uttar Pradesh have submitted a production warrant in an Indore court for comedian Munawar Faruqui in connection with a case from April, the
Hindustan Times reported on Sunday. Faruqui has been in custody in Indore since his arrest on January 1 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments during a programme.
The Prayagraj police submitted the warrant on Saturday before the chief judicial magistrate court in Indore and the city’s central jail authorities, where Faruqui is lodged, said Shishupal Sharma, the station house officer of George Town police station.
Sharma said that the case against the comedian was filed by advocate Ashutosh Mishra in Prayagraj on April 19, 2020, under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 65