India, April 9 -- The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra government, which controls the Mumbai police, to respond to the petition filed by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra seeking to quash the FIR registered against him for allegedly defaming Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde during a show in February.

Issuing a notice to the respondents-the state government and the complainant, Shiv Sena MLA Murji Patel-a division bench of justices Sarang Kotwal and SM Modak scheduled the petition's hearing for April 16, a day before Kamra's interim anticipatory bail granted by the Madras high court ends. The 36-year-old comedian is based in Tamil Nadu.

On Tuesday, when Kamra's petition came up for hearing, additional publ...