New Delhi: Munawar Faruqui uploaded a message for his supporters on his Instagram and fellow comedians took the opportunity to get a few chuckles out of it. Many comedians, musicians and celebrities were happy that he was released.
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While some people welcomed him, like Athlete and Arjuna Awardee Jwala Gutta too comment “More power to you” and Raja Kumari, the Indian-American rapper and songwriter wrote “Welcome Home” and comedians like Harsh Gujral, Rahul Subramanian, Karunesh Talwar and Atul Khatri showered their love through emojis, others took the chance to crack a few jokes. Samay Raina who commented that jail gives good haircuts to which Faruqui replied that “they give good massages as well.” Samay raina also asked for ‘weight loss tips’. Meanwhile, Sahil Shah asked him when his ‘special’ is going to come out.
Munawar Faruqui was one of the five comedians who were arrested by the Madhya Pradesh police on January 1st for allegedly making indecent comments against Hindu gods and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a show which was held at a cafe in 56 Dukan area of Indore. He was released from Indore central jail in the early hours of Saturday, a day after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail after Madhya Pradesh High Court had rejected his bail plea on January 28. The Apex court had also stayed the production warrant issued against Faruqui by a court in Prayagraj in connection with an FIR lodged there.
Besides Faruqui, the arrested comedians include Edvin Anthony, Prakhar Vyas, Priyam Vyas and Nalin Yadav. They 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.
Comedians like Varun Grover, Vir Das and Rohan Joshi, have criticised the arrest of the stand-up comic. Vir Das took to Twitter a day after Faruqui was arrested and said “You can’t stop jokes and laughter. Not because comedians are performing it, but because people need to laugh. Harder you try, the more you’re going to be laughed at, now, and by history. Anyone who has ever tried to control humour, now has a category of jokes devoted to them”.
