Two held along with Munawar get bail
granted interim bail to two people who were arrested along with stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui earlier this month for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. MBA students Prakhar Vyas and Edwin Anthony were the organisers of the January 1 event in Indore from where the two, Faruqui, one Nalin Yadav, and a minor, were held on the complaint of Hindu Rakshak Sangathan convener Eklavya Singh Gaud, son of BJP legislator Malini Singh Gaud. A day later, Faruqui’s friend Sadaqat Khan, a Mumbai-based engineer, was also arrested for allegedly making abusive remarks about Eklavya. He and Yadav continue to be in jail after their bail pleas were rejected. Faruqui was released from prison on February 6 after the Supreme Court stayed an MP high court order that declined him bail and issued notices to state police and the complainant.
The Madhya Pradesh high court on Friday granted interim bail to two people who were arrested along with stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui earlier this month for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
MBA students Prakhar Vyas and Edwin Anthony were the organisers of the January 1 event in Indore from where the two, Faruqui, Nalin Yadav, and a minor, were held on the complaint of Hindu Rakshak Sangathan convener Eklavya Singh Gaud, son of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Malini Singh Gaud. A day later, Faruqui’s friend Sadaqat Khan, a Mumbai-based engineer, was also arrested for allegedly making abusive remarks about Eklavya. He and Yadav continue to be in jail after their bail pleas were rejected .
Faruqui was released from prison late on February 6 after the Supreme Court stayed a Madhya Pradesh high court judgment that declined him bail, and issued notices to the state police as well as the complainant. The SC also restrained the Uttar Pradesh Police from arresting Faruqui in a separate case filed against him at Prayagraj for allegedly offending religious feelings through his jokes.
Vyas’s counsel Ajay Bagadia said the high court order came on the grounds set by the Supreme Court for granting bail to Faruqui. “The apex court had found a violation of Section 41 of CrPC (arresting a person without a warrant) as police should arrest a person in a case having a provision of punishment more than 3 years only after a preliminary investigation,” Bagdia said.
Inspector General of Police (Indore) Harinarayan Chhari Mishra said, “We can’t comment as the matter is sub judice. We will submit reply to the notice.”
Prakhar Vyas’s uncle, Nitin Vyas, said, “We don’t want to comment anything, but we have full faith in the judiciary. Prakhar and others will be acquitted in the false case.”
Former advocate general Ravi Nandan Singh said, “It’s a check and balance system. The same court, which denied bail to Faruqui and Nalin Yadav, granted bail to two young comedians due to Supreme Court order. Everybody should follow the system and law whether it is a police or judiciary. Our law has no room for injustice .... ” On Friday, at least 100 artistes and writers, including Arundhati Roy, Kunal Kamra issued a joint statement demanding the dismissal of charges against the accused.