Hate speech: Karnataka HC stays proceedings against Owaisi

Bangalore: The Karnataka High Court today stayed for three weeks proceedings against Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi in a lower court here in connection with a complaint filed against him for his alleged hate speech.Hearing a criminal petition by Owaisi seeking quashing of the proceedings against him, Justice K N Keshavanarayana stayed for three weeks the proceedings pending before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) court.In January this year, the CMM court had summoned Owaisi to appear before it in connection complaint lodged by advocates Dilip Kumar and Dharmapal praying for prosecuting Owaisi for his hate speech at a public meeting in Adilabad in Andra Pradesh.[caption id="attachment_645513" align="alignleft" width="380"] PTI[/caption]Owaisi, who has earlier been booked by Andhra Pradesh police on charges of sedition among others, was arrested in January.Meanwhile, CMM Rajashekhar V Patil today reserved his orders for March 4 on the complaint against Owaisi.Patil had on February 23 directed Owaisi to appear before the court today while keeping aside the application filed by him seeking exemption from personal appearance on health grounds.Owaisi's counsel Mohammad Jaffer Shah had sought two weeks’ time for appearing before the court as his client has been advised bed rest.PTI