All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi has been booked for allegedly vitiating communal harmony, making objectionable remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and disrespecting the national flag, police said on Friday.
Two first information reports (FIRs) were registered against the AIMIM chief at Barabanki city police station on Thursday night after his party's public meeting in Katara Chandana Baradari.
The first FIR against Owaisi and public meeting organisers was registered under Indian Penal Code Sections 153A (promoting enmity on ground of religion, race, etc.), 188 (disregarding order of a public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread disease dangerous to life), 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease) and the Epidemic Act was slapped against them, Barabanki Superintendent of Police Yamuna Prasad said.
Later in the night, another FIR was lodged against them for insulting the national flag during the public meeting, Kotwali in-charge Amar Singh said.
They have been accused of wrapping the tricolour on a pole at the dias during the meeting instead of unfurling it, Singh said.
Regarding the other sections imposed on Owaisi, the Barabanki SP said the Hyderabad MP violated Covid guidelines -- on masks and social distancing -- by arranging huge crowds at the public meeting.
"In his speech, the AIMIM chief made statements for vitiating communal harmony and said the 100-year-old Ram Sanehi Ghat mosque was razed by the administration and its debris was also removed. This is contrary to the fact," the SP said.
The mosque Owaisi referred to was located adjacent to the tehsil premises and opposite the SDM's residence. It was demolished on May 17 on the orders of a Barabanki SDM court.
Barabanki District Magistrate Adarsh Singh had said that the structure was illegal, and the tehsil administration got its possession on March 18.
He had said that the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court had disposed of a petition filed in this connection on April 2, which proved the construction was illegal.
"By his statement, Owaisi tried to vitiate communal harmony and incite feelings of a particular community. He also made indecent and baseless remarks against the PM and the Uttar Pradesh chief minister," the Barabanki SP said on Friday.
Owaisi was on a three-day trip to Uttar Pradesh, where his party plans to contest 100 seats in the upcoming assembly polls.
During his stay, he held public meetings at Ayodhya, Sultanpur and Barabanki on three consecutive days starting Tuesday and left the state winding up his tour with a rally in Barabanki, on the doorsteps of capital Lucknow.
