COURTSY HT FEB 8

Justice will prevail: Comic after release

Munawar Faruqui
Shruti Tomar

shruti.tomar@hindustantimes.com

Bhopal : Stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui said he has “full faith in judiciary” and was hopeful that “ justice will prevail”, after his release from the Indore Central jail on Saturday late night.

Even as Faruqui refused to comment on the case, he said, “I won’t comment over this issue but I have full faith in my judiciary and laws. Justice will prevail.”

Faruqui, who was arrested on January 1 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and violating the Covid-19 guidelines, was released from the jail after Supreme Court granted bail to him on Friday. The apex court granted him interim bail after the Madhya Pradesh high court rejected his bail plea on January 28. The apex court also stayed the production warrant issued against Faruqui by a court in Prayagraj in connection with an FIR lodged there.

After the initial denial due to paperwork, Indore central jail administration released him late on Saturday night after interference of chief judicial magistrate Aman Singh Bhuria, said a jail offcer. Indore central jail superintendent Rakesh Bhangre said, “We didn’t receive any order from the SC till late evening. We received an order of release of Faruqui from Indore district court in the afternoon but we didn’t receive cancellation order of production warrant from trial court of Prayagraj [in Uttar Pradesh].”

“When we didn’t release him, CJM Aman Singh Bhuria called me and asked the reason for not releasing him. I informed him that we are waiting for certified copy of SC order or an order copy from trial court in Prayagraj. After few minutes, we received the copy, downloaded from the official website of the apex court. We informed him about receiving the copy and the CJM asked us to release him in the night,” said Bhangre.

Faruqui’s advocate Anshuman Srivasatav, however, said, “We had provided the certified copy of the order to get him released.