Daily Roundup: Omicron and Munawar Faruqui
COVID-19, Current Affairs
International travel guidelines for Omicron
COVID-19
The union health ministry has revised guidelines for international arrivals in India in view of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
According to the notice released on 28 November, the ministry has laid down guidelines for passengers arriving from at-risk and non-at-risk nations.
All international passengers coming to India
All passengers will have to fill a self-declaration form and show a negative RT-PCR test report. They can't enter India if any of these two conditions are not fulfilled. Passengers will be required to wait for the results before leaving the airport or taking a connecting flight. This test should have been conducted within 72 hrs prior to undertaking the journey.
From at-risk nations
Coming from at-risk nations: All those coming from "at-risk" nations (swipe for the complete list of at-risk nations) have to give samples for RT-PCR testing after reaching India.
Coming from at-risk nations and tested positive: Passengers will be quarantined and the sample will be sent for genome sequencing - a method that checks the make-up of an organism.
Coming from at-risk nations and tested negative: Passengers will have to be in-home quarantine for seven days. They will be tested again on Day 8.
From not-at-risk nations
Coming from non-at-risk nations: All passengers will be allowed to leave the airport, but there will be a random sampling of people (5%) for RT-PCR tests if they are arriving from nations considered not at risk.
Coming from non-at-risk nations and tested positive: The samples of anyone found positive will be sent for genome sequencing and the person will be quarantined.
Coming from non-at-risk nations and tested negative: Will be advised to monitor themselves carefully for at least two weeks.
List of at-risk nations
UK & Europe
South Africa
Brazil
Bangladesh
Botswana
Israel
China
Mauritius
New Zealand
Zimbabwe
Singapore
Hong Kong
Munawar Faruqui: Comedy and cases
Current Affairs
Earlier this Sunday, Munawar Faruqui, a 30-year-old stand-up comedian based out of Indore, suggested that he might not do any more shows.
He announced this over a social media post saying “Nafrat jeet gayi, artist haar gaya (hate has won, artist has lost). I’m done, goodbye. Injustice.”
This came after his show title Dongri to Nowhere was cancelled after the Bengaluru police asked the organisers to cancel citing “law and order” issues. The show had sold over 600+ tickets.
12 shows cancelled
Over the past two months, Faruqui’s 12 shows in Mumbai and Gujarat have been cancelled over alleged threats of vandalism from members of the fringe outfit Bajrang Dal.
The current show was cancelled after the Bengaluru police received a letter from Hindu Janjagruti Samiti, a right-wing group, to Bengaluru police commissioner Kamal Pant, saying that Faruqui has a habit of making unacceptable jokes on hindu gods, CAA 2020, and Godhra massacre of kar sevaks.
Why are his shows so controversial?
At the beginning of this year, Faruqui did a show on January 1, following which he was arrested on the grounds of making objectionable remarks against hindu deities and the union home minister, Amit Shah.
He was arrested under several charges, including section 295-A which deals with deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class.
Hurt religious sentiments
His arrest was made over an FIR filed by Eklavya Singh Gaud, son of BJP MLA Malini Laxman Singh Gaud. Munawar was released 37 days later after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the case, calling the FIR vague.
The FIR was filed against him even before he had the chance to perform, with the police claiming that the rehearsals of the show indicated that he would hurt religious sentiments.
Activists stance
Faruqui has performed the same set in Bengaluru, thrice in the past year. The show also has a censor pass certificate from the Stage Performance Scrutiny Board of the Government of Maharashtra.
Lawyers and activists from the city claim that a private event doesn’t require police permission, and that police failed to act against the group threatening ruckus, and the cancellation of the show amounts to abandonment of duty by the police.
Reactions on social media
People over social media have reacted to this in various ways. While some agree that he shouldn’t be allowed to perform, others believe that this outrage and cancellation is not only wrong but also unconstitutional.
Are we ignoring people’s constitutional rights based on the offence taken by some groups and their ability to dominate the officials?
Legality of the situation
From a legal point of view, Faruqui has not been convicted in any of the cases against him in any of the states.
Also, no case has been filed in Bengaluru so far. How has the police found themselves unequipped already, even though they had information of a possibility of ruckus?
A comedian earns his bread and butter through making chuckle worthy remarks on general life, politics, and even religions and religious practices.
At the very least, cancelling his shows on these grounds is stripping him of his freedom of speech and his right to earn a living.
More so, shouldn’t the audience get to decide what sort of jokes they want to hear? If any standup comedian continuously hurts sentiments of a huge number of people, his popularity and income will decline as a consequence anyway.
We wouldn’t need right wingers to write to the police for that!
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