Stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui is out on bail after being incarcerated for over a month on trumped-up charges.
Faruqui was arrested in Indore on a complaint by the vigilante son of a Bharatiya Janata Party politician who interrupted a New Year’s Eve gig at which he was performing, accusing him of hurting Hindu sentiments by joking about Hindu deities and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The police said that it did not matter that Faruqui had not actually done what he was accused of doing.
A High Court judge who denied him bail, said he had the “wrong mindset” and that “such people must not be spared”. Also not spared, and still in jail awaiting a bail hearing, are the event organisers and a friend of Faruqui’s. The message is clear – anyone associated with Faruqui or supporting his work can also expect to be treated the same way.
This ensures that Faruqui, at least for a time, is silenced.
Lived-experience edginess
His lightly handled, sometimes darkly comic…