FACT CHECK: No, Munawar Faruqui’s arrest wasn’t just because he joked about Amit Shah

CLAIM
Journalist Rana Ayyub, who writes op-ed for the Washington Post, posted a tweet stating that comedian Munawar Faruqui was arrested because he played a prank on Interior Minister Amit Shah.

Ayyub’s tweet was quoted by a Pakistani journalist, who compared India and Pakistan and hinted that freedom of expression is repressed in both countries.

Similar tweets were made where it was claimed that Faruqui’s arrest was only because he mocked Shah.

A video was also distributed to claim that the police beat Faruqui while arresting him.

The video shows a man detained by the police as a bystander slaps him.
TRUTH
The claims are misleading.
Faruqui was arrested for allegedly mocking and insulting Hindu deities. According to the complaint, indecent comments were made against Hindu gods and goddesses along with Amit Shah during the Faruqui show. Ayyub omits the part about ‘Hindu deities’ in his tweet.
The Times of India’s reported on this on January 3, 2021. According to the report, Faruqui and four other people were arrested in Indore on Friday night during a show at a cafe in the popular Chhappan Dukan area of ​​the city.
Others, who were arrested along with Munawar Faruqui, have been identified as Edwin Anthony, Prakhar Vyas, Priyam Vyas and Nalin Yadav.

Author Aklavya Singh Gaur, while speaking to the media, confirms that he registered the complaint because Faruqui made disparaging remarks about Hindu deities and mocked the victims of the Godhra massacre in 2002, in which 58 returning Hindus Ayodhya were burned to death by a Muslim mob.
Gaur says that Faruqui dragged Shah’s name as if to imply that the Union Interior Minister was behind the burning of Kar Sevaks.

Also, the man in the viral video struck while being detained by the police is not Faruqui. A closer look at him confirms that he is someone else.
The video was initially posted by a user named Sanyam Jain and shows an accomplice of Faruqui being taken away.

The same was confirmed was NDTV reporter Anurag Dwary.

VERDICT
Times Fact Check has found that claims about Faruqui’s arrest because he mocked Amit Shah are misleading. A complaint was filed against him for multiple reasons, including disparaging remarks against Hindu deities, falsification of the Godhra massacre, and mockery of Shah.