Threat to Taslima: Case filed against MLA

A case has been registered against Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi for threatening to kill controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen.

Punjagutta police have booked a case against Akbaruddin, MIM floor leader in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, under Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC on Saturday night after a Hyderabad court granted permission based on evidence provided, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West Zone) N Madhusudan Reddy told PTI on Sunday.

Police had sought the court's permission to take up the investigation against Akbaruddin for threatening to kill the exiled novelist if she visited Hyderabad again. The MLA, however, has not been arrested.

Police have obtained a video-footage of the sit-in organised by MIM workers on Thursday in front of Punjagutta police station where the legislator had threatened to "behead" Nasreen.

Earlier, police booked a case against Nasreen under IPC Section 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, language etc) on a complaint by Akbaruddin who alleged that the author had hurt the sentiments of the faithful with her writings and speeches against Islam.

Nasreen was attacked by a large group of MIM activists, led by three party MLAs, at the Press Club in Hyderabad on August 9 at a function to release the Telugu translation of her novel Shodh.