Sadaqat Khan's first bail plea was rejected on January 11 (File)
An Indore court on Wednesday rejected - for a second time - the bail plea of Sadaqat Khan, who was arrested early last month with stand-up comic Munawar Faruqui, who is accused of "insulting Hindu Gods and Goddesses" and was denied bail thrice before the Supreme Court intervened.
Mr Khan had filed the second bail plea on the basis of "parity" after the top court granted Mr Faruqui interim bail last week. In doing so the Supreme Court observed "allegations made in the FIR are vague" and that due procedure had apparently not been followed.
NDTV has accessed the order issued by Additional Sessions Judge Yatindra Kumar Guru in Mr Khan's case, which indicates bail was opposed despite a lack of substance in the police's charges.
The judge also rejected it saying the top court's order was interim and that Mr Khan could not invoke the principle of parity on that basis.
"Sadakat Khan had been publishing and organising such programmes with Munawar (Faruqui) for quite some time, and both were accused in cases registered in Mumbai, as well as George Town Police Station in Uttar Pradesh, in similar matters," the police told the court.
The police also said they had a video clip showing Mr Khan recording Mr Faruqui's programme on his mobile phone. In the recording, the police claimed, Mr Khan is seen favoring Mr Faruqui.
"Some time ago, violence occurred in Indore and Ujjain due to comments by a religion, so it is requested to cancel the bail application," the police apparently asked the court.
Mr Khan was arrested January 2 - a day after Mr Faruqui and four others - when he had gone to the district court where the others were being produced.
A video of him being slapped by onlookers while in police custody was widely shared online.
Also in jail are three others - event organisers and friends of Mr Faruqui. These are Edwin Anthony from Mumbai, Prakhar Vyas (an MBA student) and Nalin Yadav, a fellow comic from Dhar district.
A fifth person - Priyam Vyas - was released since he is a minor.
The Indore High Court will hear Mr Anthony and Mr Vyas' bail plea on Friday.
Nalin Yadav's lawyer, Anshuman Shrivastava, earlier said: "We have sent the details to the Supreme Court and (are) in the process of filing a special leave petition. (The) case is in the Supreme Court."
Their chances of bail have improved after Mr Faruqui's release, family and friends argue.
Meanwhile, Mr Faruqui's brother - Shanawaz Sheikh - maintains no wrong was done and that all those who have been arrested were picked up on the basis of old evidence.