Creative personalities from several countries on Friday issued a statement of support for comedian Munawar Faruqui, who was granted bail by the Supreme Court last week after spending more than a month in jail on the charge of hurting religious sentiments.
Faruqui had been arrested in Indore before he could get on stage for a stand-up act, prompting many to draw a parallel with the Orwellian concept of Thoughtcrime.
The 110 signatories include historian Rajmohan Gandhi, dancer Mallika Sarabhai, actors Swara Bhaskar, Pooja Bhatt and Kalki Koechlin, film directors Shonali Bose, Anand Patwardhan and Canada’s John Greyson, comedians Kunal Kamra and Sanjay Rajoura, authors Amitava Kumar and Arundhati Roy, UK-based architect Sofia Karim and Brazilian feminist activist Sonia Corrêa.
They said in a statement: “The superintendent of police reportedly said Munawar was going to insult Hindu gods, and even praised the vigilantes! Munawar faces criminal charges of ‘uttering words with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings’… among other sections of India’s penal code, for jokes he never cracked, in a performance that did not take place.”
In George Orwell’s novel 1984, Thoughtcrime is a criminal offence that covers politically unorthodox thoughts, unspoken beliefs and even doubts that contradict Ingsoc, the ideology of the rulers of Oceania.
The signatories said: “Munawar’s bail applications were rejected by the magistrate, sessions and high court of Madhya Pradesh, and he had to go all the way to the Supreme Court of India just for interim bail, which was his legal right. He has now been released on bail, but the charges against him in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh remain. We call for the dropping or dismissal of these trumped-up charges for all six individuals (the accused in the case).”
They added: “We are well aware that Munawar’s performance pieces include contemporary politics and society. Munawar took risks that all artistes take. But the stakes are higher for him. He comes from a humble background.”
“His family lost their home during the large-scale 2002 violence in Gujarat, and moved to Mumbai where Munawar sold utensils and did other odd jobs during the day and studied at night. He started stand-up comedy just two years ago, quickly garnering some success.
“As artistes and concerned individuals, we are alarmed that in a country that claims to be the world’s largest democracy, a stand-up artiste was imprisoned for over a month, and faces serious criminal charges, for no crime.”
