MP High Court dismisses bail plea of Munawar Faruqui and Nalin Yadav

Indore: The Madhya Pradesh High Court, Indore Bench on Thursday dismissed bail applications filed by comedian Munawar Faruqui and co-accused Nalin Yadav who were arrested on January 2 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments during their comic show.

A single bench Justice Rohit Arya said that “no case is made out for grant of bail”.

The Court said that it was not commenting on the merits of the case as the investigation was under progress. However, the materials collected so far suggested prima facie commission of the offence.

The judge noted in the order:

The evidence/material collected so far, suggest that in an organized public show under the garb of standup comedy at a public place on commercial lines, prima facie; scurrilous, disparaging utterances, outraging religious feelings of a class of citizens of India with deliberate intendment, were made by the applicants.

Furthermore, the court while dismissing the bail applications observed:

“There is also a specific assertion by the learned counsel for the complainant that the applicant along with other co-accused persons allegedly making outraging filthy jokes in social media deliberately against Hindu Gods, Lord Shriram and Goddess Seeta hurting religious sentiments of Hindus for the last 18 months despite, protest on various social media platforms. There is nothing on record to the contrary.”