NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to comedian Munawar Faruqui, who is lodged in an Indore jail for over a month, stayed the production warrant by the Uttar Pradesh police against him, and issued a notice to the Madhya Pradesh government.
Faruqui was arrested on the charge of hurting religious sentiments in connection with a case registered by the Uttar Pradesh police last year. He had challenged in the top court the MP High Court's dismissal of his bail plea.
The Bench, headed by Jusice Rohinton Fali Nariman, which granted him bail, also issued a notice to the MP Police on Faruqui's separate writ petition, seeking quashing of the FIR registered against him.
He got bail since the MP Police did not follow a 2014 Supreme Court judgment that lays down a procedure to be followed in arrests, where an offence is punishable with a jail term up to seven years. His lawyer Saurabh Kirpal told the court that the case against the comedian was an instance of victimisation.
Faruqui and four other artistes were arrested on 1 January under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including Section 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings of any class), for allegedly cracking jokes about Hindu gods and goddesses, and also Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during a show at a café in Indore.
The case was registered on a complaint filed by Aklavya Singh Gaud, convenor of local Hindu outfit Hind Rakshak, alleging that Faruqui and others had hurt "religious feelings of Hindus" through their “outrageously filthy jokes cracked deliberately against Hindu gods and goddess."
The Apex Court noted that Faruqui was forcefully taken to Tukoganj police station in Indore and arrested on the spot without any prior investigation.
