Munawar Faruqui was denied bail by the Madhya Pradesh High Court on January 28
Stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui's plea for bail in a case filed against him for allegedly "insulting Hindu Gods and Goddesses" during a show will be heard by the Supreme Court on Friday.
He was denied bail by the Madhya Pradesh High Court on January 28. A complaint by a BJP MLA's son that the comedian made objection remarks on Hindu deities in a show in Indore led to his arrest on January 1. Five others were also arrested.
A two-judge bench of Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman and BR Gavai will hear the bail plea on Friday.
All of them were accused of making "filthy and indecent jokes" about Hindu Gods and Goddesses, as well as Home Minister Amit Shah, according to the complaint by Eklvaya Singh Gaur, the son of a BJP MLA.
"The evidence/material collected so far, suggest that in an organized public show under the garb of standup comedy at a public place on commercial lines, prima facie; scurrilous, disparaging utterances, outraging religious feelings of a class of citizens of India with deliberate intendment, were made by the applicant," said the court order on January 28.
Mr Faruqui's lawyer had argued that he had been invited by the organisers of the show and was present but he had not made any such jokes that day.
But the court rejected it, saying the possibility of more "incriminating material" could not be ruled out as investigations were still on. It also referred to a similar case filed against the comic in Uttar Pradesh and his social media posts.
It was the third time that the comedian's bail request was rejected.