Mar 19 (Midday News): A public interest litigation yesterday urged the Bombay High Court to take legal action against All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi and party MLA Waris Pathan for refusing to chant 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.

The PIL urged the court to order an inquiry into the speeches made by the duo in the recent past in which they had allegedly showed dishonour to motherland by such remarks. The petition, filed by Pune-based social activist Hemant Patil, contended that the speeches made by them amounted to spreading communal disharmony and hurting national integrity and unity of the country. Such remarks are anti-national and have the tendency to break the social fabric of the society and divide the people on the basis of religion and parochial issues, said Patil. The petition, which is slated to come for hearing in due course, also demanded a ban on AIMIM saying that remarks made by the duo amounted to violation of Representation of the People Act and were against the basic principles of the Constitution.

The PIL further sought a direction to the Maharashtra government, Director General of Police and Secretary of Home Department to call for the records in respect of speeches delivered by Owaisi at a public rally in Latur and Pathan’s utterances in the state legislative assembly that they would not say “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”. The petition alleged that Owaisi and his partymen are continuously engaged in delivering speeches that spread communalism and endanger national integration.