The Madras High Court on Monday extended comedian Kunal Kamra's interim protection from arrest till April 17, which was set to end today, in connection with an FIR lodged in Mumbai over his 'traitor' jibe at Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, reports Live Law.
The stand-up comedian's advocate approached the court today to inform them that three new FIRs have already been lodged against him in Maharashtra since the last hearing. He further submitted that the officials even visited his ancestral home in Mumbai, disturbing his aged parents.
On March 28, the court had granted interim anticipatory bail to Kamra till April 7. Meanwhile, Kamra has approached the Bombay high court to quash the FIR registered against him by the Maharashtra police. An urgent mention was made before the division bench headed by Justice Sarang Kotwal today, who agreed to hear the case tomorrow, reports Live Law.
The comedian has failed to appear before the Mumbai police for questioning despite three summons issued to him.
Kamra performed a parody song during a show in Mumbai which allegedly made veiled references to Shinde.
During a show, Kamra had taunted Shinde, without taking his name, using a modified version of a Hindi song from the film Dil To Pagal Hai where he called him a gaddar (traitor).
The comedian went on to joke about how Shinde rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray.
After the video of the comedy show was uploaded on his YouTube channel on February 23, 2025, a group claiming to be political activists vandalised the venue where the show was performed at Khar in Mumbai. On the same day, a local MLA lodged a police complaint accusing the petitioner of having defamed Shinde by making slanderous comments about the latter’s conduct.
Following a complaint by Shiv Sena MLA Murji Patel, the police here registered the FIR against Kamra under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 353(1)(b) (statements conducing to public mischief) and 356(2) (defamation).
