Kunal Kamra Row: The Madras High Court on Monday extended the interim anticipatory bail granted to stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra after an FIR was registered against him for allegedly insulting Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, till April 17, Live Law reported.
A bench of Justice Sunder Mohan ordered Kamra to meanwhile take steps to approach the concerned courts. When the matter was heard today, Advocate Suresh, appearing for Kamra informed the
The High Court had on March 28, granted interim protection to Kamra till April 7. Justice Mohan had observed that the case does not warrant custodial interrogation and that Kamra “can’t approach Maharashtra courts for relief as there are threats by party workers, ministers there, and that hence interim anticipatory bail is sought to approach Maharashtra courts later".
Kamra had gone to the Madras High Court, saying he is a permanent resident of Tamil Nadu and is afraid he could be arrested or harmed if he travels to Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, the stand up comedian has approached the Bombay High Court to seek quashing of an FIR filed against him by the Mumbai Police in connection with the case. The plea was filed on April 5, and the hearing will be held tomorrow (Tuesday).
In his plea, Kamra claimed that the police action against him violated his fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution under Articles 19 (1) (a) (right to freedom of speech and expression), 19 (1) (g) (right to practice any profession and business) and 21 (right to life and personal liberty).
The 36-year-old stand-up comedian has kicked up a major political storm in Maharashtra for taking a jibe at Shinde’s political career in his 45-minute-long show by modifying the lyrics of a popular Hindi movie song.
During a recent stand-up comedy show, Kunal Kamra dubbed a parody song of a Hindi film, Dil Toh Pagal Hai and other films—some of which have music rights owned by T-Series, and called Shinde a “traitor" for his 2022 rebellion against the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government.
Weighing on the Maharashtra politics with a musical touch to the song ‘Bholi Si Surat’, Kamra mocked Shinde and sang, “Meri nazar se tum dekho to gaddar nazar wo aaye. Haaye!“
Recorded in February, the programme called ‘Naya Bharat’ was uploaded on Kamra’s YouTube channel on March 23, drawing strong reactions from the Shiv Sainiks.
After the clip went viral on social media, Shiv Sena warned of legal action and some of its workers vandalised the venue where the show was recorded. 12 party leaders were arrested but were later released on bail.
Despite having multiple clashes with the BJP-led Centre in the past, the comedian has refused to apologise for his remark but has expressed willingness to cooperate with the police.
