Chennai: The Indore district court rejected for the second time the bail plea of a 23-year-old man arrested along with stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui following a comedy show.
Sadaqat Khan (23), accused of being involved in the show’s organisation, moved the sessions court seeking bail on the basis of ‘parity’ (similar circumstances) as Faruqui was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court.
Additional Sessions Judge Yatindra Kumar Guru, however, rejected his plea. His first bail application had been rejected by the court on 11 January.
Khan, a Mumbai-based civil engineer, is in a local jail since 3 January following his arrest. Of six persons arrested in the case, only Faruqui and another accused who was found to be a minor are out on bail.
The Additional Sessions Judge, in the order passed, cited some past Supreme Court rulings and said the grant of bail would not be justified under the law.
Khan’s lawyer Surendra Kumar Verma presented the 5 February order of the Supreme Court granting bail to Faruqui, and said his client should get bail ‘on the basis of judicial parity’.
But Additional Public Prosecutor Sanjay Sharma objected, saying the order passed by the top court in Faruqui’s case was interim, and Khan can not invoke the principle of parity on its basis.
Comedian Faruqui (32) and five others involved in organising a show here on 1 January were arrested following a complaint by Eklavya Singh Gaud, son of local BJP MLA Malini Laxman Singh Gaud.