Owaisi booked for hate speech in Uttar Pradesh

Barabanki (UP), Sep 10: The All India Majlis-e-Itthehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, has been booked for allegedly trying to spoil communal harmony through a provocative speech in Barabanki district.

Owaisi alleged in his speech that the administration had earlier this year "martyred" a century-old mosque.

He also used indecent language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the police said.

SP Barabanki, Yamuna Prasad, said that Owaisi was booked on Thursday night under Indian Penal Code Sections 153a, 188, 169 and 170 along with relevant sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act for violating Covid protocol and the conditions laid down for the meeting.

Earlier on Thursday, while addressing a public meeting in Barabanki, Owaisi referred to the mosque in Ramsanehi Ghat which was demolished in May by the administration.

"A 100-year-old mosque was martyred in Barabanki," he said and blamed the administration for not following the law in the demolition and attacked Opposition parties for not speaking out against the incident.

The AIMIM leader also termed it a "political demolition."

The Barabanki administration had, in May this year, after carrying out the demolition, without making a reference to any mosque, said an "illegal residential complex" was found situated opposite to the sub-divisional magistrate residence in the Ram Sanehi Ghat tehsil compound.

The SP said that through his comments that the administration had demolished a 100-year-old mosque and disposed the rubble, Owaisi had "instigated a particular community and tried to disturb communal harmony."