Cyber police ask Youtube to block Owaisi's hate speech

The Mumbai police have asked popular website YouTube to block the video of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi making his controversial speech.

The Mumbai police have asked popular website YouTube to block the video of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi making his controversial speech.

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Following his much-derided words, Owaisi was arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police on Tuesday and faces a host of charges including waging war against the country.

Joint commissioner of police, crime, Himanshu Roy told HT on Tuesday that the Cyber Crime Investigation Cell (CCIC) had analysed the contents of the videos uploaded on YouTube and found them potentially problematic.

"We decided to write to the YouTube to immediately block the videos as they might create a law and order situation in the city," he said. Roy added that he expected the US-based company to block the videos "in the larger interest of the society."

Meanwhile, sources in the CCIC said the videos in question are Owaisi's speech which he gave in Adilabad last month during a public function. The footage has been split into eight parts, each of which is between 15 minutes and an hour and 15 minutes long. "The speeches are highly inflammatory and spew communal hatred. The moment we came across it, we decided to request the server to block it," said a source in the CCIC.

The speeches came to the CCIC's notice on the regular surveys they undertake of cyber space to filter out rogue contents. Sources said the moment the Owaisi videos were spotted on YouTube, the Mumbai police had contacted their Hyderabad counterparts. "The offences had just then been registered against Owaisi by them," a source said.