Staff Reporter
HYDERABAD: A day after booking a case against Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin for ‘inciting enmity between different groups,’ the Hyderabad city police on Saturday set in motion the process to register cases against the MIM floor leader in the Assembly, Akbaruddin Owaisi and Majlis Bachao Tehreek leader Majidullah Khan for holding out threats to the writer.
Faced with severe criticism for being lenient towards the assailants who attacked Ms. Nasrin in the Hydreabad Press Club on Thursday, the police are now seeking court permission to book cases against Mr. Owaisi and Mr. Khan based on their statements shown in news bulletins of various news channels.
“As it is a non-cognisable offence, a petition along with clippings of the news channels was filed in the court seeking permission to initiate action against Mr. Owaisi and Mr. Khan under Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC,” a senior police officer said. He was not willing to be identified.
The police officer said the court could grant such a permission on Monday.
Following a complaint filed by Mr. Akbaruddin Owaisi, the Punjagutta police have registered a case under Section 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion) of the IPC against Ms. Nasrin as it was a cognisable offence. “Under this, we take complainant’s version into consideration and book a case,” the official explained, adding that the case was still under investigation.
Meanwhile, the Centre for Inquiry which organised the book release function to which Ms. Nasrin was the chief guest, decided to lodge a complaint about the attack on Ms. Nasrin by a mob led by three MIM legislators — Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri, Maozam Khan and Muqtada Asfar Khan.
“We are discussing with legal experts. A complaint will be filed on Monday,” the Centre Chairman N. Innaiah told The Hindu on Saturday.
Mr. Innaiah too suffered injuries in his face while trying to protect Ms. Nasrin. Six persons were on the dais when MIM legislators barged into the conference hall and attacked them.
Mr. Innaiah termed as false the allegations of Mr. Akbaruddin Owaisi that Ms. Nasrin had hurt the sentiments of Muslims with her speech in the Press Club on Thursday. “Video footage is available with us. She has not made any such remarks during the function. We believe that they are ignorant of these things. They raised earlier developments and behaved in vengeance,” he said.
The Punjagutta police also recorded Innaiah’s statements pertaining to Thursday’s incident.
