Court rejects bail pleas of Munawar Faruqui, 4 others

A local court has rejected the bail pleas of Munawar Faruqui and four others arrested on Saturday after the son of a BJP MLA filed a complaint accusing them of passing indecent remarks about Hindu deities and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a showThe comedy show was held at a cafe in 56 Dukan area of Indore on Friday police said Eklavya Singh Gaur 36 son of local BJP MLA Malini Laxman Singh Gaur had filed a complaint about the showGaur said that he and his associates had gone to watch the show When they heard the indecent comments they forced the organisers to stop the programA case was filed late on Friday night against Munawar Faruqui a resident of Junagadh in Gujarat and four Indorebased persons based on a written complaint filed by Gaur incharge of Tukoganj police station Kamlesh Sharma saidGaur also submitted video footage of the show he added As per the complaint indecent remarks were passed against Hindu gods and goddesses and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the show Sharma saidThe other arrested persons were identified as Edwin Anthony Prakhar Vyas Priyam Vyas and Nalin Yadav All of them were booked under IPC sections 295A outraging religious feelings 269 unlawful or negligent act likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life and other relevant provisionsSection 269 was invoked for allegedly ignoring COVID19 safety protocol the official said Gaur told reporters that he and his friends went to watch the show where Faruqui was performing as main comedian The show mocked Hindu deities by passing indecent comments The Godhra incident and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were also mentioned inappropriately We shot a video and stopped the show by taking the audience out of the cafeThen we caught the comedians and organizers of the show and took them to Tukoganj police station he saidGaur who is the convener of local outfit Hind Rakshak alleged that no physical distancing was maintained at the venue and the show had no permission from authoritiesAt least 100 viewers were sitting in the small hall of the cafe he saidGaur denied media reports that Faruqui was beaten up by the activists of Hind Rakshak Chief Judicial Magistrate CJM Aman Singh Bhuria refused to grant bail to Faruqui and other four and remanded them in judicial custody till January 13During arguments Farooquis lawyer Anshuman Shrivastava said the FIR had been registered with political motive and cited the constitutional provisions of freedom of speech to defend the comediansGaurs lawyer Dinesh Pandey opposed bail applications saying the show was held without the administrations permission and it hurt religious feelingsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever