‘Hate speech’: Summons issued to Andhra MLA

Two complaints were filed against Andhra Pradesh MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi at the court of the judicial magistrate in Vadodara for allegedly making inflammatory speech that hurt religious sentiments and could cause enmity between Hindus and Muslims.

One Baba Jyotirnath on Friday filed a complaint against the MLA at the judicial court under Section 298 of the Indian Penal Court (IPC) for uttering words with deliberate intention to hurt religious sentiments. "The court has given order of inquiry. The court will issue summons to the accused after a week," Jyotirnath said.

A yet another complaint was filed at the same court here on Thursday under the same Section 298 of the IPC by one Jayesh Gandhi. The court sent notice to Owaisi in the alleged hate speech case after a complaint was filed. It took cognisance of the complaints and issued process of court inquiry, sending him notice to attend the next hearing on January 24.

"The court has fixed a date of January 24 for Owaisi to reply to the notice seeking clarification on the matter," lawyer Anil Desai said.

Owaisi, who is the MLA from Chandrayangutta constituency in Hyderabad, had allegedly used words of disrespect against Hindu gods while addressing a meeting at Nirmal town of Adilabad district on December 24.

A video of the speech was later uploaded on YouTube but was taken off after official complaints.

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