Court urges SP MLA Abu Azmi to exercise caution in remarks

Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi has been cautioned by a Mumbai court to exercise restraint during interviews as any “irresponsible” statement by a senior politician like him can spark riots.

Additional Sessions Judge V G Raghuwanshi schooled Azmi while granting him anticipatory bail on Tuesday in a case filed against the SP legislator for his remarks praising Mughal ruler Aurangzeb.

The offence concerns some statements made during an interview and it means police do not need custody for seizure of any article or interrogation, the court said in the order, a copy of which was made available on Thursday.

Noting that Azmi is a politician and businessman and it was improbable that he would run away from the course of justice, the judge said it was a “fit case to exercise discretion” in his favour.

“Before parting with the order I would like to caution the applicant (Azmi) to exercise restraint on himself while giving interviews, having regards to prevailing circumstances. Any irresponsible statement can flare riots and create law and order problems,” the court said.

“I hope the applicant, being a senior politician, will understand his responsibility,” it added.

The case was registered last week against the MLA, who represents the Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar constituency in the metropolis, under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) over his remarks eulogising the medieval-era Mughal emperor.

He was booked under BNS sections 299 (deliberate and malicious act insulting the religious beliefs of any group of people), 302 (hurting someone's religious feelings) and 356(2)(defamation).

Azmi, who is also the Samajwadi Party’s Maharashtra unit president, had said while talking to the media that during Aurangzeb’s reign, India’s borders reached Afghanistan and Burma (Myanmar).

“Our GDP (gross domestic product) accounted for 24 per cent (of world GDP) and India was called a golden sparrow,” the opposition legislator had claimed.

Asked about the fight between Aurangzeb and Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, Azmi had termed it a political battle.

The remarks were made in the backdrop of the blockbuster Hindi film ‘Chhaava’, based on the life of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, who was captured by Aurangzeb’s commander in 1689. Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and his father, legendary Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, are highly revered figures in Maharashtra.

Seeking anticipatory bail, Azmi, who has been suspended from the Maharashtra legislative assembly till March 26, submitted in the court that his statements were made to the press “spontaneously without any premeditated intention to insult any personality or hurt the religious feelings of any person”.

Azmi’s lawyer Mubin Solkar had submitted before the court that the FIR did not disclose any offence against the SP legislator.

“The allegations didn’t show he had made the statements, deliberately and with malicious intentions of outraging religious sentiments,” Solkar had argued.

The prosecution had opposed his plea, saying that after the release of a movie, religious sentiments of people are volatile and in such circumstances the applicant made controversial statements in his interview.

After hearing both sides, the court said that the investigation was at the primary stage and “therefore it will not be fair to comment upon the interview given by the applicant”.

Further, the judge said that he was surprised to hear that the investigating officer did not have the video recording of the alleged interview till “today” and he registered an offence without watching it.