Comedian Munawar Faruqui on Sunday posted a statement on Instagram, styled like an open mic, which ended with the comedian signing off perhaps for the last time, as he wrote, 'This is the end. Good bye! I am done'. Hatred won and the artist lost, the comedian said recounting how his 12 shows have been cancelled in the last two months because of threats. The latest was the cancellation of his Bengaluru event which was scheduled on Sunday. Bengaluru Police confirmed that they have denied him permission as "Munawar Faruqui" is a controversial figure.
"It is learnt that Munawar Faruqui is a controversial figure..... Many states have banned his comedy shows. It is learnt that a case has been registered against him in the Tukoji police station in Indore of Madhya Pradesh," the inspector of the Ashokanagar Police station said in his letter.
Right-wing organisations, including Sriram Sena and Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, had approached the Bengaluru city police commissioner alleging that Munawar hurts the religious sentiments of Hindus by insulting Hindu Gods.
{{/usCountry}}Right-wing organisations, including Sriram Sena and Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, had approached the Bengaluru city police commissioner alleging that Munawar hurts the religious sentiments of Hindus by insulting Hindu Gods.
{{/usCountry}}Before this Bengaluru show, the comedian's Goa show got cancelled as the organisers were pressured by the Hindu Janjagriti Samiti.
'Putting me in the jail for the joke I never did'
Earlier this year, Faruqui was arrested by the Indore Police in a case for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and was in jail for almost a month. On February 7, he was released from the Indore central jail after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the case.
Faruqui and four others were arrested on January 1 after a BJP MLA's son complained 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.
Faruqui claimed that he never cracked the joke on that show for which he was arrested as he got arrested even before the show started. The video evidence that was produced was reportedly from his earlier shows in different parts of the country but not in Indore.