Two days after standup comic Munawar Faruqui and 4 others have been arrested for allegedly insulting non secular sentiments of Hindus, a lady claiming to be a part of the viewers took to Instagram and denied that any derogatory remarks have been made by him through the present whereas a police officer stated there was no video proof displaying him making the remarks.
This got here at the same time as fellow standup comedians expressed solidarity with Faruqui and underlined the significance of humour.
Indore Police on Friday arrested Faruqui and 4 associates following a grievance from Eklavya Gaur, son of Indore-4 BJP MLA Malini Gaur, that they allegedly insulted Hindu deities through the present and likewise cracked jokes on Home Minister Amit Shah. “He is serial offender and often cracks defamatory jokes on Hindu gods and goddesses,” Gaur advised reporters exterior the police station.
“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.” Subsequently, he and his associates stopped the present and introduced them to Tukaganj Police Station and submitted movies of the present, he stated.
However, Town Inspector of Tukaganj Police Station Kamlesh Sharma advised The Indian Express they haven’t any proof towards Faruqui straight and that he has been booked as an organiser. “There’s no evidence against him for insulting Hindu deities or Union Minister Amit Shah,” he stated. He stated the 2 movies submitted by the complainant are of one other comic with him allegedly cracking jokes on Lord Ganesh.
The police have registered an FIR towards Faruqui and his associates from Indore — Edvin Anthony, Prakhar Vyas, Priyam Vyas and Nalin Yadav — underneath Sections 295-A, 298, 269, 188 & 34 of the IPC.
A day after the incident, movies of the dialog between Gaur and Faruqui have been doing the rounds on social media. In a video, each are on stage with Gaur accusing Faruqui of upsetting Hindu sentiments whereas the latter is attempting to persuade him. After a protracted dialog, Gaur leaves the stage.
On Sunday, Jenosha Agnes, who claimed to be a member of the viewers, recounted the incident 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,” she stated. A couple of minutes later, a crowd entered the corridor and the organisers backed out. Then police arrived and arrested Faruqui and others, she stated. “No derogatory remarks were made by Munawar Faruqui at the Indore show,” she stated.
Faruqui’s lawyer Asad Warsi stated they will file for bail on Monday. “We are pleading there is no such evidence of offences against any of them.”
Several comics, together with Varun Grover, Vir Das, Kaneez Surkha, Agrima Joshua and Rohan Joshi, in the meantime, took to social media in assist of Faruqui.
Grover took to Instagram and alleged that Faruqui was assaulted. Sharing a video of the incident, he wrote, “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.”
Comics Surka and Abish Mathew additionally shared the clip of Faruqui on Instagram.
Das tweeted that “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.”
