Owaisi booked in U.P. for speech on destruction of Barabanki mosque

Provocative speech spoiling communal harmony, say police

Asaduddin Owaisi.

Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday booked All India Majlis-e-Itthehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi for allegedly trying to spoil communal harmony through a “provocative” speech in Barabanki district in which he said that the administration had earlier this year “martyred” a century-old mosque.

Mr. Owaisi allegedly also used indecent language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, said police.

SP Barabanki Yamuna Prasad said Mr. Owaisi was booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 153a, 188, 169 and 170 along with relevant sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act for violating COVID-19 protocol and the conditions laid down for the meeting.

Addressing a public meeting in Barabanki, Mr. 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…” Mr. Owaisi said as he 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, 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 Ramsanehi Ghat tehsil compound.

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