Partial speech insufficient evidence: Akbaruddin Owaisi’s lawyer

The lawyer said the alleged speech is more than one hour, but only a small portion of it had been submitted in court.

AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi visits the Hazrat Shah Mohammed Hasan Sahab Dargah after his acquittal in hate speech cases, in Hyderabad on Wednesday

HYDERABAD: Insufficient evidence resulted in acquittal in both cases against Akbaruddin Owaisi, said his counsel MA Azeem. “The court observed that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against Akbaruddin in both the cases due to which he was given the benefit of doubt and acquitted of all the charges,” Azeem added.

The lawyer said the alleged speech is more than one hour, but only a small portion of it had been submitted in court. When a speech in complete form is not presented in the court, its meaning changes and gives out different interpretations.Only the portion indicating the alleged provocative parts were produced. The preceding and following portions of the alleged provocative statements were not produced before the court.

“One of the observations of the court is that, when there is no continuity (in the evidence), it cannot be considered,” said Azeem, adding that the court made the same observations while delivering the verdict in both cases. Azeem said he was confident from the beginning that the evidence, which was on record, was not sufficient, which the court had also observed.

Asad thanks lawyers for valuable assistance

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi lauded the efforts of defence lawyers following acquittal of his brother and MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi in two hate speech cases. Following the acquittal, Owaisi took to Twitter and said, “Alhamdulilah Akbaruddin Owaisi has been acquitted by MP/MLA Special Court in two criminal cases against him for alleged hate speeches. Grateful to all for their prayers & support. Special thanks to Advocate Abdul Azeem sb & senior lawyers who provided their valuable assistance.”

Bandi hits out at TRS, Cong over MLA’s acquittal

State BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar blamed the mutual political understanding of the TRS and Congress with the AIMIM, which has resulted in the deliberate dilution of the hate speech case against Akbaruddin Owaisi. Expressing shock over the verdict, Sanjay Kumar demanded that the State government file an appeal in a higher court, if it has any sincerity in getting the MLA convicted for his anti-Hindu comments. He said people were observing how the AIMIM’s friendship with the TRS and Congress had diluted the cases

Speech at Nizamabad

• Delivered on December 8, 2012
• Suo-moto FIR registered after 25 days on January 2, 2013
• Arrest regularised by a PT warrant on January 14, 2013
• The case was later clubbed with cases of OU PS and Delhi and investigated by the CID
• Charges framed: 153, 153A, 295, 298, 505 and 506 of the IPC
• 41 witnesses were examined including 21 independent witnesses

Speech at Nirmal

• Delivered on December 22, 2012
• Suo-moto FIR registered after 11 days on January 2, 2013
• Akbaruddin arrested on January 8, 2021
• Charges framed: 120B, 153A, 295A and 298 of IPC
• 33 witnesses were examined, which include 23 independent witnesses
• He came out on bail in both cases on February 15, 2013