Madhya Pradesh HC Dismisses Munawar Faruqui's Bail Application

On Thursday, Justice Rohit Arya of Madhya Pradesh HC rejected the bail application by comedian Munawar Faruqui and Nalin Yadav. Both of them were accused of hurting religious sentiments.

The court did not find any merit in the bail application after giving due weight to the statements of the witnesses and the material seized by police. It also pointed out that more incriminating material might be collected about other people's involvement. during the ongoing investigation.

The Court though its Judgement held that there is prima facie evidence to suggest that the applicants (Faruqui and the show organiser, Yadav) had intended to outrage religious feelings "under the garb of standup comedy." It dismissed Faruqui’s argument that he had not uttered any statements as alleged in the criminal complaint, 

"... at this stage, it is difficult to countenance to the submissions of the learned counsel for the applicant as the complacency of the applicant cannot be ruled out, besides vulnerability of his acts in the public domain. It is not a case of no evidence."

Referring to the Uttar Pradesh police’s recent move to seek Faruqui’s custody for statements made by him in May 2020, the court added that "Further, it has come on record that similar nature of offence has been registered against the applicant at Police Station Georgetown, Prayagraj, State of Uttar Pradesh.” 

Earlier a sessions court had also rejected Munawar Faruqui's bail application considering the seriousness of the matter.