Mumbai: Bombay HC on Monday issued notice on two petitions filed by MLA Abu Asim Azmi to quash FIRs against him for allegedly praising Mughal emperor Aurangzeb during the assembly’s budget session.Justices Ajey Gadkari and Rajesh Patil will hear the matter after four weeks. A sessions court had granted Azmi anticipatory bail.The June 7 FIRs were lodged on charges including deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings following complaints by Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske and party functionary Kiran Nakti. According to their complaints, Azmi said Aurangzeb was a good administrator and that India was called ‘a golden sparrow’ during his regime. “Referring to the ruling political party, [he] said they wanted to destroy Muslims”, said the complaints.Azmi’s petitions said the FIRs do not disclose the alleged offence’s “basic ingredients”. There is no whisper in them that he made the statements with the malicious intent of hurting the religious sentiments of any community, he said. tnnMumbai: Bombay HC on Monday issued notice on two petitions filed by MLA Abu Asim Azmi to quash FIRs against him for allegedly praising Mughal emperor Aurangzeb during the assembly’s budget session.Justices Ajey Gadkari and Rajesh Patil will hear the matter after four weeks.The June 7 FIRs were registered at Thane’s Wagle Estate police station and later transferred to Marine Drive police. A sessions court had granted Azmi anticipatory bail.The cases were lodged on charges including deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings following complaints by Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske and party functionary Kiran Nakti. According to their complaints, they saw Azmi’s interview on March 3 in which he allegedly said Aurangzeb was a good administrator and that India was called ‘a golden sparrow’ during his regime. The Mankhurd-Shivajinagar MLA, “referring to the ruling political party, said they wanted to destroy Muslims”, said the complaints.Azmi’s petitions said the FIRs do not disclose the basic ingredients of the alleged offence. There is no whisper in them that he made the statements with the malicious intent of hurting the religious sentiments of any community, he said. The FIRs are “politically motivated and an abuse of the process of law”, he said.
