INDORE: After nearly two months in prison, two co-accused in the Munawar Faruqui case got temporary bail from the Madhya Pradesh high court on Friday.
Nalin Yadav and Sadaqat Khan are the last of the six accused to be given bail. Justice Rohit Arya of the Indore bench of the HC allowed the duo’s bail application in light of the Supreme Court granting ad interim bail to Munawar on February 5.
The high court in its order noted, "The applicant is held entitled to temporary bail, maintaining parity in the light of the order of February 5 passed by Supreme Court in petitions in connection with the case." The accused have been cautioned not to indulge in "any activity subversive to public order".
On February 12, two other co-accused — an MBA student from Indore and Mumbaikar Edwin Anthony — were granted bail and they walked out of Indore Central Jail a day later. The MBA student’s younger brother, a minor, had been granted bail after a week in juvenile custody.
Except for Sadaqat, the others were arrested on the evening of January 1 after Hind Rakshak activists filed a complaint that derogatory remarks on Hindu deities were being made at a stand-up comedy show at a café. Sadaqat was arrested the next day.
They were booked for hurting religious feelings and organising an event without permission from the district administration. After Munawar’s bail plea was rejected thrice, he moved the Supreme Court which granted him bail on February 5.
Sadaqat and Nalin filed separate bail applications. Advocate Ashhar Ali Warsi appeared for Sadaqat while advocate Anshuman Srivastava argued for Nalin. They submitted in court that the HC had granted temporary bail to the other co-accused in the case based on the SC bail to Munawar.
Government advocate A Sisodiya and objector’s lawyer Rajesh Joshi argued that CrPC provisions were compiled with at the time of arrest and their production before a magistrate.