Keypoints:
- Faruqui was in jail for 35 days. He was arrested on January 1 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
- On Friday, the SC granted him interim bail after the Madhya Pradesh High Court rejected his bail plea on January 28.
- He was released with the order passed by the Supreme Court on Friday morning granting him ad-interim bail.
- Indore Central Jail authorities received a call from SC to check the order uploaded on SC’s website and release Faruqui in compliance with the order.
On Saturday night, Comedian Munawar Faruqui was released from the Indore Central Jail a day after the Supreme Court granted him bail in a case for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. Faruqui was in jail from January 1 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
A day after a Supreme Court bail order, it took a late night phone call from a Chief Judicial Magistrate that prodded Indore jail authorities to quickly make arrangements for the release of stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui, who is accused of hurting religious sentiments.
He was granted interim bail by the SC on Friday after the Madhya Pradesh High Court rejected his bail plea on January 28.
On Sunday, a senior official from the jail administration said that in the call on Saturday night, Indore’s Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) asked the Central Prison authorities in Madhya Pradesh to check the SC’s website for the bail order, after which Faruqui was set free.
Indore Central Jail’s superintendent Rakesh Kumar Bhangre told that, “A CJM rang us up on Saturday night. He said if we have not got the SC’s official order regarding Faruqui, it can be checked on the apex court’s website.”
The jail official said they then checked the order which mentioned that all warrants against Faruqui have been stayed.Hours before his release, Faruqui’s lawyers had submitted a copy of the SC’s order in a local court, which then directed that he be released on a bond of Rs 50,000 and a security of the same amount.But, he was not released at that time.
A couple of hours before Faruqui was released, his cousin Zaid Pathan said they were disappointed by the jail administration’s stand.
“Our belief in the judiciary was strengthened after the Supreme Court order,” he had remarked.
Faruqui and four others were arrested following a complaint by a BJP MLA’s son that objectionable remarks about Hindu deities and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were passed during a comedy show at a cafe in Indore on New Year’s Day.
