An order issued by the DGP of Telangana on Thursday has given official sanction for AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi to be prosecuted for hate speech.

The order states that Owaisi committed an offence within the territorial jurisdiction of Nirmal Police Station, Adilabad District and the Govt. of Telangana hereby accords sanction for the accused to be prosecuted for the offences punishable under section 153-A of the Indian Penal Code.

On December 22, 2012, Owaisi addressed a rally of roughly 25,000 people in the Nirmal town of Andhra Pradesh's Adilabad district. In a two-hour-long speech that would later go viral on the internet and land the politician in trouble, he lashed out against Hindus, the RSS, VHP, BJP and Narendra Modi. 

On January 4, 2016, the Hyderabad High Court had questioned the state government over the delay in prosecuting MIM legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi for his 2012 hate speech case and gave a week's time to both the state and police to spell out their stand clearly on the issue.

Following this, a suo moto FIR was registered against Akbaruddin Owaisi in the Nirmal and Nizamabad police stations.

You can read our earlier story here.