India, May 1 -- The Bombay High Court on Wednesday quashed a first information report (FIR) filed against comedian Bharti Singh and actor Shekhar Suman for allegedly hurting religious sentiments during a comedy show aired on Sony entertainment channel. The court held that while the essential ingredients of the offence were not made out, comedy performances should not be judged by the same parameters as serious speech.

In the FIR filed in 2010 regarding allegedly offensive remarks made on the show 'Comedy Circus Ka Jadoo', Sony and a scriptwriter were named as accused, apart from the comedian and the actor. The FIR was lodged based on a complaint from a representative of Raza Academy, who claimed that Singh had cracked a joke about a Qura...