Owaisi to be served notice for 'communal' remarks in UP

Varanasi (UP), April 28: A notice will soon be issued to AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi for making alleged communal statements during a speech at a public meeting of PDM Nyay Morcha in Varanasi on April 25.

The notice will be issued by an additional returning officer on behalf of the district election officer.

Kashi region BJP legal cell convenor Shashank Shekhar Tripathi had complained to the Election Commission, alleging that AIMIM chief Owaisi delivered communal statements during a public meeting in Varanasi.

Confirming that such a complaint was received, Additional Returning Officer Sub-Divisional Magistrate Neeraj Patel said on Sunday that after the initial probe, a notice was being issued to Owaisi.

In the meeting last Thursday, Owaisi alleged Mukhtar Ansari was killed in judicial custody. He was a "martyr and such people never die".

"It was the responsibility of the BJP government to save them, but it failed," he said. Owaisi also fiercely targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and SP president Akhilesh Yadav in his 40-minute address. “Half of Akhilesh Yadav’s family sits and drinks tea with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he asks us to give up our lives,” Owaisi had said.