Prayagraj police seek custody of Faruqui
PRAYAGRAJ: Prayagraj district police have submitted a production warrant for stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui in connection with a case registered against him at Uttar Pradesh’s George Town police station in April 2020.
Gujarat-based Faruqui and four others were arrested in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore on January 1 on charges of outraging religious sentiments and violating Covid-19 protocol during a New Year event.
According to George Town station house officer Shishupal Sharma, an advocate, Ashutosh Mishra, had lodged a complaint against Faruqui on April 19, 2020. The complainant alleged that Faruqui was purportedly seen making derogatory remarks against Hindu deities, mocking the deaths of Hindus in the Godhra case in a video uploaded on Youtube, he added.
Based on the complaint, Faruqui has been charged under sections 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion), 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion) and Section 65 and 66 IT Act, 2008, of the Indian
Penal Code (IPC), Sharma said.
Sharma said the warrant, issued by the Prayagraj lower court, has been submitted before the Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Indore and the Indore Central Jail, where Faruqui is currently serving judicial custody. On January 15, the Madhya Pradesh high court adjourned his bail hearing until next week.
Faruqui had moved the MP court seeking bail after the magistrate’s court as well as the sessions court rejected his bail plea on January 5 and 2, respectively.
Earlier, Faruqui’s lawyer Anshuman Srivastava had said: “Faruqui has a reason to feel depressed because he is facing punishment for a crime which he never committed. Faruqui didn’t even perform at the show so how did he hurt the religious sentiments by uttering words to wound religious sentiments.”