MIM MLA produced before Medak court in 2005 protests case

Jailed MIM legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi, facing sedition charge for a hate speech, was today produced before a court in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh in connection with a case booked against him in 2005 for protesting against the demolition of a worship place.

The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader, who was arrested from Hyderabad on January 8 and sent to judicial custody for the hate speech by a Nirmal court, was brought to Sangareddy town in Medak from Adilabad district jail.

He was produced before the court of Judicial First Class Magistrate K Maruti Devi in Sangareddy, about 294 km from Adilabad, which adjourned the hearing to January 28 in the 2005 case in which he is charged with rioting and obstructing public servants from discharging duties.

After appearing before the court, Akbaruddin Owaisis counsels Rafatullah Khan and Balraj informed regarding his illness.
 The court then posted the matter for January 28.

On a petition filed by Patancheru police, the court had yesterday issued Prisoner Transit (PT) warrant against him in connection with the 2005 case.

The case was registered on a complaint by a revenue official that MIM leaders including Akbaruddin Owaisi, his brother and Hyderabad MP and party chief Asaduddin Owaisi, protested against demolition of a place of worship at Muttangi village near Patanachevu during a road widening process of Hyderabad-Mumbai National Highway in which they allegedly engaged in heated arguments with the then District Collector A K Singhal and other officers.

Subsequently, some MIM leaders had appeared before the court and obtained bail even as a non-bailable warrant was pending against Akbaruddin Owaisi who did not turn up in the court in connection with the case registered in 2005.

Owaisi brothers and others were booked under IPC sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 147 (rioting), 186 (obstructing public servant while discharging duties) and seven other IPC sections.

A large number of supporters of MIM party and Akbaruddin Owaisi raised slogans when he arrived at the court. While police were taking Owaisi out of the court premises the supporters tried to obstruct the vehicle, prompting the cops resort to mild caning to disperse them in which two persons sustained injuries, police said. The police also took 40 MIM activists into preventive custody at different places in Medak district when they tried to obstruct the vehicle in which Owaisi was travelling. Owaisi was then shifted back to Adilabad district jail. Akbaruddin Owaisi, representing Chandrayangutta assembly constituency in Hyderabad and floor leader of the party in the state assembly, is facing charges of sedition, waging war against the nation and criminal conspiracy for allegedly delivering the hate speech on December 22 in Nirmal town.