Mumbai, April 17 -- In a strong defense of comedian Kunal Kamra, senior advocate Navroz Seervai told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that the legal proceedings initiated against Kamra over a parody song allegedly mocking Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde represent a disturbing misuse of state machinery and a threat to free speech.

The court was hearing Kamra's plea seeking to quash the FIR lodged against him in connection with the satirical content. Seervai argued that the case stands out as one of the "rarest of rare" instances where the law enforcement system appears to have been mobilized purely because certain individuals took offence at a work of art - in this case, a parody song - which falls squarely within the am...