Mumbai: In view of the alleged “death threats” received by stand-up comic Kunal Kamra, the Bombay High Court has agreed to give an urgent hearing on Tuesday to his plea seeking the quashing of multiple FIRs registered against him over his alleged “jibe” at Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Kamra was booked by Mumbai Police for allegedly referring to Shinde as a “traitor (gaddar)” in a song in his show last month and posting a video of the act on social media. He has skipped three summons from the Mumbai Police so far.
A Bench of Justice Sarang Kotwal and Justice S.M. Modak on Monday agreed to hear Kamra’s petition on Tuesday, accepting his plea citing “extreme urgency” in view of the alleged death threats being issued to him.
The High Court was earlier scheduled to hear his petition on April 21 but advanced the proceedings on his request.
Kamra, in his petition, claimed that the cases filed against him infringe upon his fundamental right to freedom of expression under Article 19 and the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.
He had moved the Bombay High Court within days after the Madras High Court granted him interim protection from arrest till April 7. He has skipped three summons from the Mumbai Police so far.
Kamra hit the headlines a fortnight ago after he sang a parody of ‘Bholi Si Surat’, a popular song from the Bollywood movie ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’ while allegedly referring to Shinde as “gaddar”.
After Shinde staged a rebellion in June 2022, the Shiv Sena split, toppling the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in Maharashtra. Since then, Thackeray and his son Aditya have been using the term “gaddar” to indirectly refer to Shinde.
Kamra’s parody that was understood as targeting Shinde, led to angry protests by Shiv Sena supporters, who vandalised the studio where the shooting of his show took place.
The state legislature also witnessed an uproar on this issue after the Mahayuti alliance members deplored Kamra’s move to target Deputy CM Shinde, demanding his apology.
Shiv Sena activists threatened to teach Kamra a lesson. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also assured stern action against Kamra and said the government will not tolerate any attempt to undermine the Constitution and freedom of speech.
He made it clear that the freedom of speech should be well within the Constitution and if someone tries to cross that, it will not be tolerated.
A breach of privilege notice was also moved against Kamra in the Maharashtra Legislative Council during the recently-concluded Budget Sssion.
Kamra said he would not apologise for his comment, saying, “I don’t fear this mob, and I will not be hiding under my bed, waiting for this to die down.”
In his post on X, Kamra said, “I will not apologise. What I said is exactly what Mr Ajit Pawar (first Dy CM) said about Eknath Shinde (second Dy CM). To the political elders threatening to teach me a lesson, our right to freedom of speech and expression is not only to be used to fawn over the powerful and rich even though today’s media would have us believe otherwise. Your inability to take a joke at the expense of a powerful public figure does not change the nature of my right. As far as I know, it is not against the law to poke fun at our leaders and the circus that is our political system.”
Thereafter, he also criticised the Mumbai Police’s move to serve notices to a man in the audience who attended his show, to record his statement.
(IANS)
