A Muslim comedian in India has been detained for more than three weeks for allegedly insulting Hindu gods during a standup routine that he did not perform.
Fellow comedians, lawyers and opposition politicians have spoken out against the detention of Manawar Faruqui, 29, who was accused of making “indecent” and “vulgar” remarks about Hinduism and government figures during a comedy show on 1 January in the city of Indore, in Madhya Pradesh.
Despite police admitting they have no evidence, and witnesses and video footage confirming Faruqui did not get a chance to perform that night, the comedian remains in jail, having twice been denied bail by the courts. His third bail hearing is due to take place at Indore high court on Monday.
“Without any evidence, and without conducting any primary investigations, the police have registered this case against Munawar under political pressure of the ruling party,” said Faruqui’s lawyer, Anshuman Tiwari. “There is no material, nothing at all which backs up these allegations. The entire case has been registered just to gain political mileage.”
Faruqui, a relative newcomer on India’s comedy circuit, has built up a reputation for topical comedy sprinkled with satire and observational humour, drawing on politics, society and current affairs.
The material has angered some figures from the BJP, India’s ruling party. After criticism online, he apologised for a video in which he made a joke about a Hindu god, and in December he had a show in Jaipur cancelled when a mob turned up at the venue demanding it be shut down. A police complaint has been made against Faruqui in the state of Uttar Pradesh over a video.
On New Year’s Day, Faruqui was booked to perform at a small cafe in Indore as part of a standup tour. Before he could begin, he was interrupted by a group led by Eklavya Singh Gaur, the head of a local Hindu nationalist group and son of a local BJP politician.
Video footage shows Gaur accosting Faruqui onstage and accusing him of making derogatory remarks about Hindu deities and demanding that Faruqui not be allowed to perform. Faruqui can be heard defending himself, telling Gaur that his only intention is to create laughter not hurt, that he has never insulted Hinduism or any religion, and requesting that Gaur watch his show so he can judge for himself.
Gaur had already made a complaint to the police, who arrested Faruqui and four others involved in the show on charges of hurting religious sentiments. The police report on Faruqui also accused him of insulting the home minister, Amit Shah, despite no evidence that he made reference to government figures that night.
Police admit there is no basis for the case. “There’s no evidence against him for insulting Hindu deities or union minister Amit Shah,” police inspector Kamlesh Sharma told local media. The police superintendent Vijay Khatri said it “doesn’t really matter” if Faruqi made the comments or not because there was still “intent”.
The bail refusals were on the grounds that the release of the five could cause a “law and order situation”. There are fears that if granted bail, Faruqui will not be released but instead transferred to the custody of police in Uttar Pradesh who are pursuing a complaint against him from last year.
Faruqui’s arrest is seen as the latest assault on freedom of expression and dissent in the cultural sphere. This week a new political drama on Amazon Prime was accused of hurting religious and political sentiments and forced to censor some scenes.
Faruqui is the fourth comedian recently to be targeted for allegedly criticising the government or Hinduism, fuelling a climate of fear on the Indian comedy circuit.
“Comedians are worried about making any political jokes now because this is what happens,” said Vishesh Arora, who runs 25 comedy venues across India and was Faruqui’s tour manager. Arora said that since Faruqui’s arrest, other comedians he worked with “have already cancelled shows in at least six or seven cities because they are too scared to perform”.
He added: “There are people in the ruling party who are against this kind of comedy, they don’t believe comedy should be used to critique the government and so try to shut down shows. Live comedy started in India as an anti-establishment medium, a place to take a stand against corruption, speak out against political parties and powerful people, but now everyone is too afraid to take such a stand.”
Nonetheless, some of India’s biggest names in comedy have come out in Faruqui’s defence. “The system is not just telling comedians what they can joke about, it’s also telling you what you can laugh at. The main target isn’t our pen, it’s your throat,” tweeted the popular comedian Vir Das.
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