Eknath Shinde joke row: Trouble mounts for comedian Kunal Kamra, 3 more cases filed against him in Mumbai

Trouble mounted for comedian Kunal Kamra on Saturday as three separate cases were filed against him at Khar police station of west Mumbai over his controversial stand-up comedy act which included a satire on Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde.

One of the complaints was filed by the Mayor of Jalgaon city, while the other two complaints came from a hotelier and a businessman from Nashik, news agency quoted the Mumbai Police.

Khar police have called Kunal Kamra twice for questioning, but he has not yet appeared for the investigation, the report said.

Court relief to comedian

The Madras high court on Friday granted interim anticipatory bail to Kunal Kamra in connection with multiple FIRs lodged against him. Justice Sunder Mohan ordered interim anticipatory bail until April 7 with conditions.

The comedian had approached the Madras High Court to seek transit anticipatory bail, claiming he has been receiving many threats following his recent satirical comments.

The Mumbai Police had asked the Kunal Kamra to appear on March 31 at Khar police station for further questioning in the case. This was the third summon issued to Kamra in the case filed by Shiv Sena MLA Murji Patel at the Khar police station. Kamra has failed to appear before the police in the first two summons.

Kunal Kamra’s Eknath Shinde joke

Comedian Kunal Kamra’s latest stand-up gig uploaded on YouTube and his Instagram handle angered Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde’s supporters, with them last Sunday vandalising the venue in Mumbai where the act was filmed along with a threat to not let him “walk freely”.

Kunal Kamra took a swipe at politics in Maharashtra and the election there, referring to the breakaway factions of Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), adding that “one guy” started the trend and using the term ‘gaddar’ (traitor) in describing the person.

“Jo inhone Maharashtra ke election me kia hai… bolna padega… pehle Shiv Sena BJP se bahar aa gayi fir Shiv Sena Shiv Sena se bahar aa gayi… NCP NCP se bahar aa gayi… ek voter ko 9 button dediye… sab confuse ho gaye…” [“What he did in Maharashtra’s election… I have to say… First, Shiv Sena broke away from BJP, then Shiv Sena broke away from Shiv Sena itself… NCP broke away from NCP… they gave nine buttons to a voter… and everyone got confused…],” Kunal Kamra said.

“Chalu ek jan ne kia tha… wo Mumbai me bohot badhiya ek district hai Thane waha se aate hain…”, Kunal Kamra added before starting to sing a song which appeared to be his spin on a number from the movie ‘Dil To Pagal Hai.

Kunal Kamra later also replied to political leaders ‘threatening’ him to teach a lesson in his official statement. Kamra stated that the ‘inability to take a joke at the expense of a powerful public figure does not change’ the nature of his right. He added that it is not against the law as far as his knowledge.