After being in police custody for 18 days, comedian Munawar Faruqui could naturally expect some relief. After all there is no proof of the ...
After being in police custody for 18 days, comedian Munawar Faruqui could naturally expect some relief. After all there is no proof of the allegations against him: that he has hurt religious sentiments or insulted faith, crimes under India’s penal code.
Instead, his situation seems to be getting worse. Uttar Pradesh has now dug up an old case against the comic and has submitted a production warrant in an Indore court. If the court agrees, Faruqui – rather than being granted his liberty – would simply be passed on to the custody of the Uttar Pradesh police.
Police action
The trouble started for Faruqui on January 1 as he was accosted as he was about to start his show in the city of Indore in Madhya Pradesh. The comic was roughed up by a mob and then taken to the police station.
The action was a self-confessed ambush: the result of careful planning by a Hindutva vigilante group called the Hind Rakshak Sangathan. The assault was led by Aklavya Singh Gaur, the chief of the organisation and son of a BJP MLA.
Ironically, the comic had not made any jokes about Hindu deities, or even begun his performance when he was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh Police along with five others. The police itself...
