NEW DELHI (AP) — A comedian popular for his biting political humor is being investigated for possible defamation over jokes made about an Indian state leader who is an ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in yet another case raising questions over freedom of speech in the country.
Police in the western city of Mumbai opened the investigation Monday against Kunal Kamra over a comedy skit referring to Eknath Shinde, the second highest elected leader of Maharashtra state, following a complaint filed by a politician from Shinde's Shiv Sena party.
Kamra had made the remarks in a comedy skit, but it was unclear when the performance took place.
A video clip of the skit Kamra posted on his Instagram profile on Sunday showed him taunting Shinde in a parody song. Kamra's use of the term “traitor” particularly triggered Shiv Sena party workers and on Sunday they ransacked the studio where he had performed the skit.
Police are also investigating the vandalism.
One lawmaker from the party Sunday threatened Kamra, saying he would be chased by the party workers throughout the country. “You will be forced to flee India,” lawmaker Naresh Mhaske warned Kamra in a video message.
Shinde has not commented about the matter, but Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Kamra should apologize for his remarks.
“We respect freedom of expression, but recklessness will not be tolerated,” Fadnavis told reporters.
Kamra has made no comment on the investigation, but late Sunday he shared on his Instagram a picture of himself holding the Indian Constitution with caption: “The only way forward.”
The Habitat Comedy Club, where Kamra had performed, said it was shutting down following the vandalism.
“We are shocked, worried and extremely broken by the recent acts of vandalism targeting us,” it said in a statement Monday, adding that the club will remain shut “till we figure out the best way to provide a platform for free expression without putting ourselves and our property in jeopardy.”
Kamra has faced the ire of Hindu nationalist groups and political parties in the past, particularly for jokes about Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party politicians.
Other Indian comedians have been arrested or had shows canceled for making fun of politicians or making references to the Hindu religion or national icons.
Posters and other paraphernalia are seen scattered outside the studio where Indian comedian Kunal Kamra allegedly made "defamatory" remarks against Shiv Sena politician Eknath Shinde, in Mumbai, India, Monday, March 24, 2025, after the venue was ransacked by Shiv Sena party workers. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Posters and other paraphernalia are seen scattered outside the studio where Indian comedian Kunal Kamra allegedly made "defamatory" remarks against Shiv Sena politician Eknath Shinde, in Mumbai, India, Monday, March 24, 2025, after the venue was ransacked by Shiv Sena party workers. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Police officers gather outside the building of the studio where Indian comedian Kunal Kamra allegedly made "defamatory" remarks against Shiv Sena politician Eknath Shinde and was ransacked by Shiv Sena party workers, in Mumbai, India, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court refused Wednesday to lift an order barring the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law.
A split three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit wouldn't block a March 15 order temporarily prohibiting deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
Invoking the law for the first time since World War II, President Donald Trump’s administration deported hundreds of people under a presidential proclamation calling the Tren de Aragua gang an invading force.
The Justice Department appealed after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg blocked more deportations and ordered planeloads of Venezuelan immigrants to return to the U.S. That did not happen.
Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of five Venezuelan noncitizens who were being held in Texas.
The case has become a flashpoint amid escalating tension between the White House and the federal courts.
Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson and Patricia Millett voted to reject the government’s request to lift the order. Each wrote concurring opinions. Judge Justin Walker, a Trump nominee, wrote a dissenting opinion.
Millett, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, said Boasberg's order merely froze the status quo “until weighty and unprecedented legal issues can be addressed” through an upcoming hearing.
“There is neither jurisdiction nor reason for this court to interfere at this very preliminary stage or to allow the government to singlehandedly moot the Plaintiffs’ claims by immediately removing them beyond the reach of their lawyers or the court.”
Henderson, who was nominated by Republican President George H.W. Bush, said the court's ruling doesn't prevent the government from arresting and detaining migrants under Trump's proclamation.
“Lifting the injunctions risks exiling plaintiffs to a land that is not their country of origin,” she wrote. "Indeed, at oral argument before this Court, the government in no uncertain terms conveyed that — were the injunction lifted — it would immediately begin deporting plaintiffs without notice."
Walker said the plaintiffs' claims belong in Texas, where they are detained.
“The Government has also shown that the district court’s orders threaten irreparable harm to delicate negotiations with foreign powers on matters concerning national security,” he wrote.
Boasberg, the chief judge of the federal district court in Washington, has vowed to determine whether the government defied his order to turn planes around. The administration has invoked a “state secrets privilege” and refused to give Boasberg any additional information about the deportations.
Trump and his allies have called for impeaching Boasberg. In a rare statement, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said that “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”
The Alien Enemies Act allows noncitizens to be deported without the opportunity for a hearing before an immigration or federal court judge.
Boasberg ruled that immigrants facing deportation must get an opportunity to challenge their designations as alleged gang members. His ruling said there is “a strong public interest in preventing the mistaken deportation of people based on categories they have no right to challenge.”
People hold a banner that reads in Spanish, "Migrating is not a crime; sanctioning a people is," at a government-organized march to protest the deportation from the U.S. of alleged members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, who were transferred to an El Salvador prison, in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
In this photo provided by El Salvador's presidential press office, prison guards transfer deportees from the U.S., alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (El Salvador presidential press office via AP)
