Who is Munawar Faruqui? Why was he arrested?
The case was initially heard by Madhya Pradesh High Court which declined him bail saying, “liberty of a person has to be balanced with his duties towards other citizens.”
Who is Munawar Faruqui? Why was he arrested?
The case was initially heard by Madhya Pradesh High Court which declined him bail saying, “liberty of a person has to be balanced with his duties towards other citizens.” He was accused of passing “indecent” remarks about Hindu deities during a show. Faruqui later moved a writ petition before the top court challenging Madhya Pradesh High Court’s order denying him bail.
“He was arrested for jokes he didn’t crack. A presumption of and anticipation of a so-called criminal act cannot be an offence. The police registered a case and arrested him without verifying the facts,” Anshumaan Shrivastava, the comic’s lawyer, told the BBC’s Soutik Biswas recently.
After fighting for basic necessities for 70 days, Munawar Faruqui has been announced as the winner of Lock Upp. The Kangana Ranaut show also had Payal Rohatgi, Anjali Arora, Azma Fallah and Shivam Sharma as finalists. Along with the trophy, Munawar also took home Rs. 20 lakh cash prize and a brand new car.
The complainant was Eklavya Gaud, the son of a politician from India’s governing Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), which is also in power in Madhya Pradesh state, where the arrest happened.
Mr. Gaud, who leads a right-wing Hindu outfit, had interrupted the show on 1 January, complaining that Mr. Farooqui’s sets were offensive to Hindus.
A mobile phone video recorded by an audience member shows Mr. Farooqui pleading with Mr. Gaud, saying that he also jokes about Muslims in his shows and that he should be allowed to continue.
“I just want to make people laugh. If anyone feels offended I will never do it again,” he tells Mr. Gaud. Audience members can be heard yelling, “Let the show begin.”
A lawyer had filed a case against the comic last year in Uttar Pradesh state for allegedly making derogatory remarks against India’s Home Minister Amit Shah and hurting Hindu religious sentiments in different videos.
[contact-form][contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”true” /][contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”true” /][contact-field label=”Website” type=”url” /][contact-field label=”Message” type=”textarea” /][/contact-form]