SC grants bail to Munawar Faruqui, clubs FIRs, transfers them to Indore

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sanjay Karol also clubbed all the complaints registered against the comedian and transferred them to Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to comedian Munawar Faruqui in relation to the case registered against him by the Madhya Pradesh Police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sanjay Karol also clubbed all the complaints registered against the comedian and transferred them to Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

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The apex court in its order stated, “Taking into consideration the facts and circumstances, and the previous order of this court, we are inclined to transfer all the complaints to Indore. We have already granted ad interim protection, the same is made absolute.” The top court also granted him protection against the production of warrants by Delhi Police for three weeks.

The order of the apex court came on the plea of Faruqui challenging the Madhya Pradesh High Court declining his bail and seeking to quash all the FIRs and criminal proceedings against him in the case.

The plea also sought clubbing of FIRs.

Earlier, the apex court had granted interim bail to Faruqui who was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh police in the case.

The top court had earlier also stayed the production warrant issued against Faruqui by an Allahabad court.

Faruqui, a resident of Gujarat, is accused of passing “indecent” remarks about Hindu deities during a show.

Rejecting the bail plea, the High Court had said the liberty of a person has to be “balanced” with his duties towards other citizens.

Faruqui and four others were arrested on January 1, 2021, following a complaint by Eklavya Singh Gaud, son of BJP MLA Malini Laxman Singh Gaud, that objectionable remarks about Hindu deities and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were passed during a comedy show at a cafe in Indore on New Year’s day.

Later one more person was arrested.