From Munawar losing his mother, who died by suicide, to him relentlessly chasing his dream of being a stand-up comedian despite all odds, his friends, who are all stand-up comedians themselves, gave us their insight on who Munawar really is beyond his on-stage persona.If Munawar was really trying to hurt religious sentiments, then why would he be such thick friends with a Punjabi and a Hindu? If he really hated Hindus, why would my mother consider him a son? When we never felt anything even remotely offensive for years, who are these people making these baseless claims, without knowing Munna at all. Everyone peddling this hate is ruining someone’s life, should they not pause and reflect?” 25-year-old Sagar Punjabi, whose house was the spot where the four friends spent hours together, said to this reporter.
If not for his arrest, the four of them would be busy right now planning their next show slated for 28 January. “It is Munawar’s birthday on 28 January. We were going to do a special show with his fans for his birthday,” Anish said. All three are still processing what has happened to their friend. Anish, is currently pursuing his masters in biochemistry on the side, 24-year-old Saad works in his family business and 26-year-old Sagar is a college dropout, pursuing stand-up comedy.
29-year-old Munawar was detained by Madhya Pradesh’s Indore Police from Monroe Cafe on 1 January, after his show was interrupted by BJP MLA Malini Gaur’s son Eklavya Singh Gaur. Gaur is also the local convenor of the outfit called Hindu Rakshak. Within the next two days, he and five others were arrested on charges under Section 295-A (outraging religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 298 (uttering words with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings), 269 (negligent act likely to cause spread of disease), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.
All this for jokes he allegedly never uttered as he had not started his act, and for which there is no electronic evidence produced by the complainant or Indore Police yet. Eklavya Singh Gaur claims he ‘overheard Munawar rehearsing the jokes,’ a claim that his friends say makes no sense.First of all, no comedian rehearses their jokes. All we do is jot down the points to remember. We have already tried the material at various open mics, so it is not an act that we are performing for the first time. Now even if that is true, please tell me why a comedian will rehearse a joke in front of his audience. The laugh has everything to do with a surprise element in what the comedian says, right? This makes no sense whatsoever,” Anish said.
After two bail pleas were rejected, a third bail application was moved in the Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court. It was listed for 15 January. “But because the police had not submitted the case diary, the case got adjourned for two weeks later. In the interim, we moved a application seeking early hearing. This was accepted, and now the matter is being heard on 25 January,” Faruqui’s counsel, advocate Anshuman Shrivastava, who was earlier the deputy advocate general for the state of MP, told this reporter.
