Court summons Owaisi in connection with his reaction against Yakub Menon's death

Hajipur (Bihar): A Vaishali court on Wednesday issued summons to AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi to appear personally before it on August 11 in connection with his reaction against awarding of capital punishment to Mumbai blast accused Yakub Menon last year.

Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) Rajesh Pandey ordered Owaisi, an MP, to personally appear in the court on 11 August when the case would be heard next.

The order was delivered while hearing a complaint filed by a Hajipur-based lawyer Rajeev Kumar Sharma on 31 July last year.

The complainant had said that the AIMIM chief, while protesting against death sentence to Yakub Menon, had argued questioning why capital punishement had not been given to killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and rioteers during 2002 Gujarat carnage.

The SDJM took cognizance of the complaint under IPC 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc and prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and issued summons order, the petitioner’s lawyer said.

The complainant in his writ filed on 31 July, 2015 had said that he had been hurt hearing strongly-worded statement of AIMIM over TV channels against death sentence awarded to Yakub Menon and had filed the case.

Four persons were named accused but the court exempted three for lack of evidence and issued summons to Owaisi.