SP MLA Abu Azmi moves Bombay High Court for quashing of FIRs over his Aurangzeb remarks

Mumbai: Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Abu Azmi has moved the Bombay High Court seeking the quashing of two "politically motivated" FIRs registered against him over his remarks on Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

A bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Rajesh Patil issued a notice to the police on Monday and posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks.

In an interview with the media in March, Azmi allegedly stated that Aurangzeb was a "good administrator" and during his reign, India's borders expanded up to Afghanistan and Burma. Azmi purportedly said if Aurangzeb had razed temples, he also destroyed mosques.

The comments were made in the context of the release of the Hindi movie "Chhava" which depicted the conflict between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's son Sambhaji Maharaj, and Aurangzeb.

Following the remarks, he was suspended from the budget session of the Maharashtra legislature in March this year.

Mumbai Police registered two FIRs against Azmi.

The MLA claimed his comments were taken out of context and he had never made any derogatory remarks against any Maratha or Hindu leader.

His petition stated that the FIRs against him didn't show malicious intent to hurt the religious sentiments of any community.

"The FIR is politically motivated. It is an abuse of the process of law," Azmi stated in his plea.

A sessions court granted pre-arrest bail to Azmi in both cases and pulled up the police over registering the cases before going through Azmi's speech. The court also asked the MLA to exercise restraint while giving interviews.