Bombay High Court Quashes FIR Against Bharti Singh and Shekhar Suman, Says Comedy Can’t Be Judged Like Serious Speech
Bharati Singh and Shekhar Suman: An FIR was filed against Bharti Singh and Shekhar Suman in 2010 for allegedly making objectionable comments on the show "Comedy Circus Ka Jadoo." The court has issued its verdict in the case.
On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court quashed an FIR filed against comedian Bharti Singh and actor Shekhar Suman for allegedly hurting religious sentiments during a comedy show. Granting relief to both, the court stated that comedy performances should not be measured by the standards of serious speeches.
An FIR was filed in 2010 for allegedly making objectionable comments on the show "Comedy Circus Ka Jadoo." In addition to the comedian and actor, Sony and a scriptwriter were also named as accused. The FIR was filed based on a complaint from a representative of the Raza Academy. The complainant had claimed that Singh had mocked a verse from the Quran on the show, which was offensive to Islam. According to the complainant, Suman also repeated the verse after Singh.
(Source: Twitter)
Nitin Pradhan, the lawyer representing the comedian and actor, argued in court that the police investigation against the two was completely baseless, as they were merely performing their roles as a judge and an artist.
A single bench of Justice Amit Borkar quashed the FIR. He stated that artists and judges in such programs are there to make people laugh. They are not in the position of speakers making statements against any religious group. The court stated that the roles of the two were so remote that they could not be brought under the ambit of the offenses alleged by the complainant.
