Entertainment
Indian Muslim comedian in jail for weeks for jokes he was ‘going to’ crack
New Delhi: A Muslim comedian, Munawar Faruqui, is serving jail for three weeks in India for jokes he did not tell an audience, but on suspicions that he was ‘going to’.
According to details, the 28-year old comedian is facing legal action in two Indian states. In Madhya Pradesh, he was detained for allegedly making indecent remarks about Hindu deities during a rehearsal of a comedy show. In Uttar Pradesh, he is accused of insulting the Indian Home Minister Amit Shah.
Despite police admitting they have no proof or witnesses confirming that the comedian cracked ‘indecent’ jokes, Faruqui remains in jail, having twice been denied bail by the courts.
“Without any evidence, and without conducting any primary investigations, the police have registered this case against Munawar under political pressure of the ruling party. There is no material, nothing at all which backs up these allegations,” said Faruqui’s lawyer, Anshuman Tiwari.
In one of his shows, Faruqui used dark humour and cracked a joke about his native Gujarat state and the deadly religious riots of 2002, in which more than 1000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed.
"Junagadh is a very lazy city. People go for siestas, shops shut, nothing happens. We were eight kids in the house. I was happy because I didn't have to go to school. The electricity used to go, the phones went dead, the elders in the house were anxious about their safety. But when the riots ended, [we found] nobody died in Junagadh. You know why? People were too lazy to even riot,” he said referring to the riots.
Fellow comedians, social activists and opposition political leaders have have come out in support of the comedian.
Faruqui's performances include jokes on religious riots, police brutality against students, the controversial citizenship law and the ongoing farmers' protest.