Munawar Case: Indore Court Rejects Sadaqat Khan’s 2nd Bail Plea

Khan’s advocate had moved the court on the basis of judicial parity after Munawar’s release on bail.

Court refuses bail to co-accused in Munawar Faruqui case.

Photo Courtesy: Screenshot/Twitter/Hussain Haidry

The Indore District and Sessions Court on Tuesday, 9 February, rejected the bail plea of Sadaqat Khan, who had moved the court seeking bail on the basis of parity (similar situation) after the co-accused in the case, comedian Munawar Faruqui, was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court on 5 February, reported PTI.

Judge Yatindra Kumar Guru rejected Khan’s bail application, submitted by Advocate Suresh Kumar Verma, and cited SC rulings of Satpal Singh v. State of Punjab and Rukmani v. State of Jharkhand, saying that granting bail will not be justified by law, noted Bar and Bench.

Advocate Verma presented the 5 February SC order, adding that Khan should get bail on “the basis of judicial parity", quoted PTI.

Since the bail order passed was an interim order, Additional Public Prosecutor Sanjay Sharma objected to invoking the principle of parity on this basis. The order notes that Khan was named by authorities for allegedly organising similar ‘shows’ on social media and there have been different complaints filed against him in Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai, quoted Bar and Bench.

This is Khan’s second bail application rejected by the court, the first one was on 11 January.

Background

Sadaqat was detained and arrested on 2 January. He was not named in the FIR and was arrested on the accusation of being a co-organiser of the event. Sadaqat’s family claims he was allegedly only there to surprise and support his friend Munawar.

Meanwhile, Munawar, comic Prakhar Vyas, Pratik Vyas, Edwin Anthony and Nalin Yadav were detained on 1 January and arrested on 2 January,

On 2 January, an FIR had been registered by the Madhya Pradesh Police against all six men on charges of Section 295-A (outraging religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 298 (uttering words with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings), 269 (negligent act likely to cause spread of disease), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

Khan's video of being thrashed and abused by an unidentified person, while policemen escorted him to jail, went viral.

The Incident

Stand-up comedian Munawar was detained from Indore on 1 January and subsequently arrested by the MP Police on charges of ‘outraging religious feelings’ on the basis of a complaint registered by BJP MLA Malini Gaur’s son Eklavya Singh Gaur. Gaur is also the local convenor of a pro-Hindutva outfit called the Hindu Rakshak.

It is important to mention that Faruqui’s performance had not yet begun and that the police told media houses that they did not have any video evidence of Faruqui insulting any gods from the particular event.

(With inputs from Bar and Bench and PTI.)