HYDERABAD/BENGALURU : On a day of mixed fortunes, a court asked police to register criminal cases against AIMIM’s Chandrayanagutta MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, while another acquitted him of sedition charges on Thursday.
The Nampally court directed the Saidabad police to register criminal cases against Akbaruddin for an alleged “hate” speech he made in Karimnagar in July this year. The court also asked the police to submit a report on or before December 23.
The Saidabad police, however, said that they have not yet received the copy of the court order. One K Karuna Sagar, an advocate, filed a petition before the court seeking directions to police for registering cases against Akbaruddin for making derogatory remarks highlighting '15 minutes' threat during a public meeting in Karimnagar.
In the said meeting, Akbaruddin blamed the RSS for killing of Muslims and claimed that "the RSS people are yet to recover from his 15 minutes’ speech" which he had delivered back in 2013.Following the petition filed by the advocate, the court directed the police to register cases nder section 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language), 153 (B) (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of IPC.
Meanwhile, the Special Court, established in Karnataka to try cases against MLAs and MPs, has acquitted Akbaruddin of sedition charges. Special Court Judge Ramachandra D Huddar on Thursday acquitted Owaisi, along with 33 other accused, in a case registered by one Umesh Jambagi. This was after Akbaruddin’s counsel contended that the sedition charges were added five days after the registration of complaint and also that prior sanction was not taken to prosecute him.
Jambagi accused Akbaruddin and his followers of carrying lathis and raising anti-India and anti-Hindu slogans near Nor Dhaba in Humnabad taluk of Bidar district on September 23, 2013. Pointing out that the prior sanction was not obtained to prosecute Akbaruddin as he was a sitting MLA in then united Andhra Pradesh, the Special Court said that the materials and photographs of the incidents collected by the investigating officer do not show the date of incident.
Tinkering with the complaint and chargesheet
Highlighting that there was tinkering with the complaint and chargesheet, the Special Court said that many names were deleted and new names were added .