Madhya Pradesh: Stand-up comedian among 5 held in Indore for ‘indecent’ remarks on Hindu deities

Munawar Faruqui, a stand-up comedian from Gujarat, was arrested along with four others after the son of a BJP MLA complained against him for alleged indecent remarks made against Hindu deities and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a show at Indore in Madhya Pradesh, a police official said on Saturday.

Police said the comedy show was held at a cafe in 56 Dukan area of Indore on Friday.

Eklavya Singh Gaur (36), son of local BJP legislator Malini Laxman Singh Gaur, filed the complaint in this regard, police said.

Gaur said he and his associates had gone to the show as audience, where the comedian made the remarks. They objected to his comments and created ruckus over it. They also forced the event to stop.

"A case was filed late on Friday night against stand- up comedian Munawar Faruqui, a resident of Junagadh in Gujarat, and four Indore-based persons based on a written complaint filed by Eklavya Singh Gaur, who also submitted a controversial video footage of the comedy show," in-charge of Tukoganj police station Kamlesh Sharma said.

"All the five accused were later arrested," he said.

As per the complaint, indecent remarks were passed against Hindu gods and goddesses and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the show, Sharma said.

Four other arrested persons were identified as Edwin Anthony, Prakhar Vyas, Priyam Vyas and Nalin Yadav, the police said.

All of them were booked under IPC sections 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), section 269 (unlawful or negligent act likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) and other relevant provisions.

Meanwhile, talking to reporters, Gaur said, "After purchasing the tickets, my associates and I went to the comedy show, where Faruqui was performing as the main comedian. The show mocked the Hindu deities by passing indecent comments.

The Godhra incident and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were also mentioned inappropriately during the show."

"Such objectionable talks were going on during the comedy show. We made a video of them and stopped the show by taking the audience out of the cafe. Then we caught the comedians and organisers of the show and took them to Tukoganj police station," he said.

Gaur, who is also the convener of local outfit Hind Rakshak, alleged that the instruction to maintain physical distance was also not being followed during the comedy show and it was organised without the permission of the authorities.

At least 100 spectators were sitting in a small hall of the cafe, he said.

Some media reports said that the stand-up comedian was also thrashed by the workers of Hind Rakshak during the ruckus in the cafe.

However, Gaur denied the charge.