Madras HC grants interim anticipatory bail to Kamra

The Madras high court on Friday granted interim anticipatory bail to standup comic Kunal Kamra in connection with the First Information Report (FIR) lodged against him in Mumbai over his remarks against Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde.

- Ayesha Arvind

BENGALURU:

Justice Sunder Mohan granted bail to Kamra until April 7 after taking note of his argument that he couldn't approach a court in Maharashtra because of the FIRs against him. The court also issued notices to the Tamil Nadu government and the Khar Police Station, Mumbai.

"The petitioner is a standup comedian. He made comments in a show in January and the video was released recently. The petitioner says he is facing life threats and is unable to approach courts in Maharashtra. This court is inclined to grant him interim anticipatory bail," the high court said.

The 36-year-old stand-up comedian has kicked up a major political storm in Maharashtra after he referred to Shinde as a "traitor" during his performance at the Habitat Studio at the Unicontinental hotel in Mumbai, where he went on to sing a parody about Shinde. Kamra used a modified version of a Hindi song from the movie Dil Toh Pagal Hai to describe the 2022 rebellion of Shinde against his then boss Uddhav Thackeray.