AIMIM’s junior Owaisi booked for ‘hate speech’ against RSS & BJP
The Karimnagar Police booked Owaisi for promoting enmity between different religious groups, making statements hurting national integration and for criminal intimidation under various sections of the Indian law.
AIMIM’s Telangana MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, the younger brother of Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi has landed in trouble due to his alleged inflammatory comments on the RSS and the BJP at a recent rally. He was booked in a criminal case by the Telangana Police on Friday following instructions from a local court.
The Karimnagar Police booked Owaisi for promoting enmity between different religious groups, making statements hurting national integration and for criminal intimidation under various sections of the Indian law.
At a party meeting in Karimnagar, ten days ago, on the night of July 23, the MIM leader boasted about the inflammatory comments he had made at Bhainsa in Adilabad in 2012 – suggesting that he would balance the Hindu-Muslim population if the police forces were kept away for just 15 minutes.
“Why do the RSS and the BJP hate Akbaruddin Owaisi? It is because they haven’t recovered from the 15-minute blow yet,” he said recalling the infamous statement.
When BJP leaders sought action against him, Owaisi claimed that his July 23 speech did not constitute any offence as it didn’t violate any law. He alleged that some people had sought to twist his comments by adding words for political gains.
On July 27, Karimnagar Police Commissioner V B Kamalasan Reddy gave a clean chit to Owaisi declaring he made no offensive, hostile or inciting comments that could ignite hatred. The commissioner said his decision was based on legal experts’ opinion, who had examined the video.
The district magistrate court, however, came to a different conclusion when a BJP affiliated advocate challenged Owaisi’s exoneration before it on Wednesday. The Police was then on Friday ordered to register FIR against the MIM leader.
BJP’s Telangana unit chief spokesman Krishna Sagar Rao slammed the police and said Owaisi was able to repeat the incendiary comments since he had gotten away with it in the past as well. “Since no action was taken then, Owaisi repeated it,” he said.