Munawar is shaken, but he is tough mentally, say friends who met him

Less than 24 hours ago, stand-up comedian Munawar put up a post on Instagram stating cryptically, ‘Munawar Faruqui leaving comedy – video releasing on February 14’. This was a day after he put up a seemingly smiling picture of his with the prison hair cut on the same social media app.

“He is anything but happy. Three of us had gone to meet him the next day after he had reached home. He was smiling but we all saw that he was not himself. Even in the photo that was uploaded, you can see that his hair has turned white. If you have followed him, you’ll notice that is not how he used to look,” said Anish Goregaonkar, one of the three stand-up comedians with whom Munawar used to perform group shows. Sagar Punjabi, Saad Sheikh, and Anish Goregaonkar have constantly remained in touch with Munawar’s family during this period.

Munawar Faruqui, who was arrested at Indore in Madhya Pradesh on January 1, 2021, was finally granted bail at his fourth attempt by the Supreme Court on Friday, February 5, 2021. He walked out of Indore central jail late on Saturday night. The Madhya Pradesh High Court had rejected his bail plea on January 28. The bail plea was adjourned earlier because of the “non-availability of the case diary”.

Faruqui and five others (Nalin Yadav, Prakhar Vyas, Priyam Vyas, Edwin Anthony, Sadakat Khan) were arrested following a complaint by Eklavya Singh Gaud, the vigilante son of local BJP MLA Malini Laxman Singh Gaud. He alleged that objectionable comments were made about Hindu deities and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the show.

Sadakat Khan was only an ardent fan of Faruqui and happened to be in Indore to watch the show. Prakhar had contacted Faruqui for the show and he was set to perform later. His brother Priyam was only attending the show. Anthony was the event coordinator.

The police said there was no evidence against Faruqui in court and later said that it did not matter that he had not actually done what he was accused of doing. However, the police have been insisting that all of them should be kept in custody to prevent possible “law and order problems” in Ujjain and Indore. Faruqui was booked under Sections 295A (outraging religious feelings) and 269 (unlawful or negligent act likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) of the Indian Penal Code, among other charges.

Another one of his friends who had travelled back with him from Indore, Saad Sheikh said the Faruqui’s family was emotional when they met him and was, for now, glad that he had reached home. “He was in jail for 37 days. He has lost a lot of weight. He used to have a slight tummy, now all of that is gone,” added 24-year-old Saad.

When Saad met him the day he was released from jail, initially both of us kept our cool. “We knew if either of us started to cry, the other would cry too. But, soon both of us burst into tears along with the family members too. We did not wait any longer at Indore. We drove down to his house the same night,” explained Saad.

He is an over-thinker, said Saad, and when a person has to spend time in prison without any distraction from social media or movies, it is difficult. “He was extremely tensed. When in prison, you can’t take your mind off your troubles. The jail cell does not have a window or ventilation for something to even catch your eye,” added Saad. Munawar believed that the judiciary would do justice to him, said Saad, and his friends wanted to believe this too.

Sagar said that it was not as if this was the longest, they had not met. “There have been times when we had not met each other for two months, but these 37 days felt the longest. It was as if we had met after a year. When we all went over to his house, I could not even recognise him. His hair had been cut and it was after a while that I recognised Munwar. He was not himself. It was as if life had drained out of him,” pointed out 25-year-old Sagar Punjabi. Anish Goregaonkar added that Munawar had become visibly thinner. “His arms and legs had become thinner and his veins could be seen. It was almost like that of a 90-year-old person,” he added.

As soon as they saw him, they all hugged and cried. “We didn’t know what else to do. At first, we tried teasing each other, but that did not last. We were all overwhelmed. There was nothing we could say at that point. His close relatives were all around. We ate together and watched his family be around him,” added Punjabi. The family was extremely disturbed as no one had expected this and his sisters were worried about him.

His friends said that he will get out of this feeling soon. “He is not weak mentally. He has the toughness, but anyone will be shaken if they are arrested when they went to perform. He said he is okay, but when a statement like that is said, it means there is more than what meets the eye,” said the 23-year-old Goregaonkar.

All of them concur that it will take at least two months or more for him to settle down. “He is likely to begin performing only after that,” signed off Goregaonkar, with Punjabi adding that Munawar will be back in the comedy circuit soon.