Comedian Munawar Faruqui, 4 others held in Indore over 'derisive' comments on Hindu deities

BHOPAL: Five men including Mumbai-based stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui have been arrested in Indore for featuring in a New Year programme where derisive comments were allegedly made about Hindu gods and goddesses.

The five men arrested on Friday evening have been identified as stand-up comedians Munawar Faruqui (Mumbai), Prakhar Vyas, Priyam Vyas, Nalin Yadav (Indore) and event coordinator Edwin Anthony.

"The arrested men have been booked under IPC sections 188, 269, 34 and 295A for organising the event sans permission, flouting COVID-19 safety norms and hurting religious sentiments," Inspector in-charge of Indore's Tukoganj police station Kamlesh Sharma told The New Indian Express on Saturday.

While the arrested men will be produced in court on Saturday, the Tukoganj police station is also set to book in the same case Muktesh Jain, who owns the popular cafe where the paid event was being organized sans any official permission on Friday evening.

The matter came to light when members of a local saffron outfit Hind Rakshak Sagathan including Eklavya Gaur (son of ex Indore mayor and present BJP MLA Malini Gaur), who were among those present at the event, objected to the derisive reference by a local stand-up comedian and got the event stopped.

"The stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui is a serial offender, who in the past has often denigrated Hindu gods and goddesses at his shows. When we came to know about the event being scheduled for New Year Day at the cafe on the third floor of a building located on the famous 56 Dukan food street, we too bought tickets and were seated among the audience," Eklvaya Gaur said.

"On expected lines, objectionable references were not only made about our gods and goddesses, but those performing there even made derisive references about Union home minister Amit Shah and dragged his name into the Godhra carnage. We got the event stopped immediately, brought the audience out and then took the performers and event organisers to the local police station," Gaur added.

In the past too, the Gujarat-born and Mumbai-based stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui has landed in trouble for making derisive comments about Hindu gods and goddesses in various parts of the country.

In April 2020, he was booked by police in Prayagraj district of UP for a YouTube video in which he was seen mocking PM Narendra Modi.