Stand-up Comic Munawar Faruqui Bids Goodbye To Comedy: Here's A Timeline Of The Controversy

Comedian Munawar Faruqi has hinted at an exit from comedy after his show in Bengaluru on Sunday was cancelled due to vandalisation threats from right-wing fringe outfits.

Soon, Faruqi took to his Instagram to pour his heart out to his followers and said that at least 12 of his shows in the past have been cancelled. "Nafrat jeet gayi, artist haar gaya. (Hate won, an artist has lost), I'm done! Goodbye," Faruqui wrote.

View this post on Instagram

Recent development

In a letter to the organiser Good Shepherd auditorium, the Bengaluru Police referred to Faruqui's show "Dongri to Nowhere" and said Faruqui is a "controversial figure". Mohan Gowda of the Hindu Jagran Samiti in Bengaluru also said they won't allow the show to be held.

"Putting me in jail for the joke I never did to cancelling my shows, which has nothing problematic in it. This is unfair. This show has gained so much love from people in India irrespective of their religion. This is unfair. We do have censor certificate of the show and it's clearly nothing problematic in the show. We called off 12 shows in the last two months because of threats to venue and audience," the comedian said in the long Instagram post.

YouTube

But what triggered the controversy? Here's a timeline of what happened, how it all began and who said what. Take a look.

Walked out of prison on Feb 5, 2021

In January 2021, Munawar Faruqui was jailed for over a month over allegations of "insulting Hindu Gods and Goddesses" during a show, was granted interim bail on Feb 5 by the Supreme Court, which also issued notice to the Madhya Pradesh government and put on hold a warrant against him in Uttar Pradesh.

Issuing notice to Madhya Pradesh on the comedian's request that the FIR (First Information Report) against him be cancelled, the Supreme Court agreed with his lawyer that procedure was not followed.

Twitter

Munawar Faruqui's lawyer had argued that a person cannot be arrested without a magistrate's order or a warrant, which is stated in Section 41 of the Criminal code. The court said that the allegations mentioned against him in the FIR are vague,

SC releases comedian Munawar Faruqui on ad-interim bail. Issues notice to Madhya Pradesh govt.

Acknowledges Faruqui's argument that allegations are vague.

Notes arrest did not follow procedure u/s 41 CrPC (arrest without warrant)

Also stays production warrant issued UP govt

¡ª Krishnadas Rajagopal (@kdrajagopal) February 5, 2021

The bench noted that the procedure set down by the court in a previous judgment had not been followed in Faruqui¡¯s case. The Madhya Pradesh High Court in an order dated January 28, 2021, had dismissed the bail applications of Munawar Faruqui and Nalin Yadav, also an accused.

Munawar was arrested on Jan 1

Munawar along with his aides was arrested on January 1 for allegedly making objectionable comments on Hindu gods and goddesses during a comedy show in Indore.

Twitter

What the court said

"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 applicant," said the court order.

Faruqui's lawyer had argued that he had been invited by the organizers of the show and was present but he had not made any such jokes that day.

Livelaw

But the court rejected his plea, saying the possibility of more "incriminating material" could not be ruled out as investigations were still on. It also referred to a similar case filed against the comic in Uttar Pradesh and his social media posts. "In the light of the statements of the complainant and the witnesses referred above, the seized articles, video footage of the show and the seizure memos detailed above, at this stage it is difficult to countenance to the submissions of the learned counsel for the applicant as complacency of the applicant cannot be ruled out, besides vulnerability of his acts in public domain," said Justice Rohit Arya.

The hearing on the bail petition of Faruqui was extended on Jan 15, as the Tukojiganj police failed to present the case diary.

Twitter

What his lawyer said

"The Tukojiganj police station is just 500 meters away from the High Court but the police is not deliberately presenting the case diary because Munawar Fariqui, who is the main accused, never performed at the event in which the so-called malicious attempts to outrage religious feelings were made. We were to make these submissions in court today," Faruqui's lawyer Anshuman Shrivastava said on Friday.

Facebook

What the police said

It must be noted that SHO of Tukojiganj police station Kamlesh Sharma had admitted that the police had not found any evidence against the comedian.

Senior police officials of Indore, however, maintain that they have video evidence without giving any explanation as to why the case diary was not presented in court.

Meanwhile, Indore Superintendent of Police Vijay Khatri said that Faruqui had not made any jokes about Hindu deities, or even begun his performance when he was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh Police on January 1.

Jansatta

"The comedian was arrested only on the basis of claims made by a Hindutva vigilante group," the cop said. Khatri said that the arrest was made on basis of a complaint by Eklavya Singh Gaur, the son of BJP MLA Malini Gaud, who said he had overheard jokes during rehearsal. However, cop, said that the lack of video evidence "was not a concern".

Some on Twitter raised the issue, questioning the intent behind keeping a comedian in jail even when he didn't crack any joke.

Zero Outrage against Arnab from Govt, Judiciary & Media though he is talking about buying Judges, fixing Ministers, knowing military secrets & celebrating jawan deaths.

Contrast it with Munawar who is in jail on the assumption that he will be telling a joke.

This is New India.

¡ª Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) January 16, 2021

Munawar Faruqui is still in jail for the jokes he never made.

Kapil Mishra is still roaming free, despite the speech he made.

¡ª Nimo Tai 2.0 (@Cryptic_Miind) January 8, 2021

Munawar Faruqui is still in custody for ¡°jokes¡± he never told and imaginary offences . It¡¯s been a week now.
Why is his bail being constantly denied? Because he¡¯s Muslim.

¡ª Aditi Mittal (@awryaditi) January 8, 2021

"Munawar didn't crack any jokes on Hindu Gods. But it doesn't matter", says Indore SP. He also applauds the Hindu vigilante groups who "overheard" that Munawar "is going to" do jokes on Hindu Gods.

This is where BJP is different. They have LEGALISED vigilantism against Muslims.

¡ª Kaushik Raj (@kaushikrj6) January 14, 2021

Who all were behind the bars

Faruqui was arrested along with five others on January 1 for allegedly insulting and making indecent remarks on Hindu deities and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a New Year show in Indore. Of the six youngsters, who were behind bars for over a month, one was the brother of the show's organiser who was in the audience, one was the organiser himself, another a friend of Faruqui's who had nothing to do with the event, and a fourth whose only family is a minor brother running around for him. The arrested include Prakhar Vyas, Priyam Vyas, Nalin Yadav, and event coordinator Edwin Anthony.

Twitter

They were arrested on a complaint by Eklavya Gaud for ¡°hurting religious sentiments¡± at a show in Indore. The next day, Faruqui¡¯s friend Sadakat Khan was held when he went to meet him in court.

Faruqui was booked under IPC Sections 295A (outraging religious feelings) and 269 (unlawful or negligent act likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) among other charges.

A fan who was at the show took to Instagram and claimed that Gaur went on the stage even before Faruqui began his set.

Faruqui¡¯s lawyer Ashhar Warsi of Indian Civil Liberties Union said that since the police has not found any evidence against Faruqui hurting religious sentiments, there¡¯s no case against him.