The Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday granted ad-interim bail to Nalin Yadav and Sadakat Khan, who were arrested along with the stand-up comic Munawar Faruqui on January 2 for making derogatory remarks against Hindu deities as well as Home Minister Amit Shah during a show held at a cafe in Indore on the occasion of new year. The duo was charged for offences under Sections 295A, 298, 269, 188 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code
The order was pronounced by the single-bench of Justice Rohit Arya. Earlier, he had granted bail to co-accused Prakhar Vyas and Edwin Antony on February 12. Faruqui was the first one to get interim bail on February 5 by the Supreme Court
The five were arrested on January 2 following complaint by son of a BJP legislator. It’s important to note single bench of Justice Rohit Arya had earlier denied bail to Faruqui following which he had moved to Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court had termed the allegations made in FIR against Faruqui as vague. The court had also stayed the production warrants issued by Uttar Pradesh Police against Faruqui in a separate case.
“The learned counsel has pointed out to us that quite apart from the fact that the allegations made in the FIR are vague that the procedure contained in Section 41 Cr.P.C. as adumbrated by our judgment in Arnesh Kumar Vs. State of Bihar & Anr., reported in (2014) 8 SCC 273 has not been followed before arresting the petitioner. This being the case, we issue notice in both the petitions, and stay the Judgment of the High Court. The petitioner is released on ad-interim bail on conditions to the satisfaction of the trial court. In the meantime, there shall be stay of the production warrants as well,” the top court had said.
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