Indore police said Sunday they had no video evidence to show comedian Munawar Faruqui insulting Hindu deities during a performance at a cafe in the city. The Indian Express reported. Faruqui had been arrested Friday for allegedly hurting religious feelings.
Kamlesh Sharma, the municipal inspector at the Tukaganj Police Station, told the newspaper that the video submitted by the complainant showed another comedian making jokes about the deity Ganesh. “There is no evidence against him [Faruqui] for insulting Hindu deities or Union Minister Amit Shah, ”Sharma said.
The complaint against Faruqui was filed by Eklavya Singh Gaur, head of the Hindutva Hind Rakshak Sangathan group, according to reports. Gaur is the son of Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Malini Gaur. Faruqui was also accused of making disparaging remarks about Shah and allegedly mocking the kar sevaks who were killed in the 2002 Godhra massacre.
Meanwhile, several comedians spoke out against Faruqui’s arrest. “You can’t stop the jokes and laughter,” tweeted actor / comedian Vir Das. “Not because comedians are playing it, but because people need to laugh. The more you try, the more they will laugh at you, now and for history. Anyone who has ever tried to control humor now has a joke category dedicated to them. “
You can’t stop the jokes and laughter. Not because comedians are playing it, but because people need to laugh. The more you try, the more they will laugh at you, now and for history.
Anyone who has ever tried to control humor now has a joke category dedicated to them.
– Vir Das (@thevirdas) January 3, 2021
He also posted a screenshot of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tweet from 2017, which talked about the importance of satire and humor. “I’m going to leave this here,” Das wrote.
I’m going to leave this here. pic.twitter.com/C8eqqDzPya
– Vir Das (@thevirdas) January 3, 2021
Comedian Rohan Joshi shared a video on Instagram of Faruqui trying to reason with people who said they were offended by his jokes. “It turns out that now you can assault people while they are doing their job and the police will take them to the police station,” Joshi wrote.
Varun Grover, the writer of critically acclaimed web series Sacred games, also shared the video of Faruqui on his Instagram story. “A fellow Indian, a fellow comedian is in jail and a mob beat him up because of the words he spoke,” Grover wrote. “Here you are trying to make your case logically and calmly, but our systems now just want to brutally silence every voice.”
Grover added: “They don’t want to listen, they don’t even want to argue, they just want to erase every bit of individual thought, every iota of reason. And we, the people of the greatest civilization on earth, agree with that. “
Faruqui was also allegedly ill-treated by members of the Hind Rakshak Sangathan group, who forcibly took him to the Tukoganj police station on Friday together with the organizers of the event.
In addition to Faruqui, four other detainees were identified as Nalin Yadav, Prakhar Vyas, Edwin Anthony and Priyam Vyas.
They were registered in sections 269 (illicit or negligent act that can spread the infection of any life-threatening disease), 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any kind by insulting their religion or religious beliefs) and other related provisions of the Indian Penal Law.
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