Days after orders by a local court in Telangana, the state police on Friday registered an FIR against All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi over an alleged hate speech in Karimnagar town.
The Karimnagar 3-Town police has now booked Owaisi under Sections 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion), 153B (Assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 506 (Criminal intimidation) of the IPC, besides Section 156(3) of the CrPC.
Bethi Mahender Reddy, an advocate from Karimnagar had moved a local court after the police said that his complaint did not stand legal scrutiny to register an FIR. Following this, the court looked into his complaint and issued orders to the police to book a case against Owaisi.
It was in a public meeting on July 23 in Karimnagar town that Akbaruddin Owaisi, known for his vitriolic remarks, said, "The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) can't do anything. They can't even pluck a strand of hair."
Following this, Akbaruddin went on to refer to his infamous '15 minute' comment.
On December 22, 2012, Owaisi had addressed a massive rally in (then Andhra Pradesh's) Nirmal town. In the speech, he had made a comment about "removing the police for 15 minutes off the streets", suggesting violence would erupt between Hindus and Muslims.
Owaisi was arrested in January 2013 for the comment, on charges of hate speech, waging war against the country and having intention to cause riots, and was granted conditional bail after spending 40 days in prison.
In his speech last week, Owaisi referred to his earlier '15-minute' comment and suggested that the RSS was still scared of his threat, which has triggered a major row in the state.
As a video of the recent speech also went viral, Akbaruddin Owaisi issued a statement on July 26, where he said, "My speech doesn't constitute any offence; I have not contravened any provision of law.”