My life not as precious as…: Owaisi declines Z-category security

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday declined Home Minister Amit Shah’s offer to accept Z-category security following the recent attack on his car in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur during a campaign trail.

Speaking to ANI, Owaisi said that he has refused to take the security cover as he doesn’t deem his life as valuable as the lives of those killed in the anti-CAA protests.

“Today in Parliament, Home Minister Amit Shah asked me to accept Z category security. I want to say to him that the value of my life is not more than 22 people who died during the CAA protest. I don’t like people with arms around me, I’m a free bird, want to live freely” ANI quoted him as saying.

Also read: Day after attack in UP, Asaduddin Owaisi gets Z security

Earlier in the day, Shah had informed the Rajya Sabha that a probe into the attack on Owaisi’s car was underway while urging him to accept the Z-category security detail.

The home minister said that a bullet proof vehicle has been assigned to Owaisi as he still faces threat as per government intelligence.

Z-category is a security cover of 22 personnel including four to six NSG commandos. The security detail is only reserved for VVIPs and high-risk individuals and the government has the final say on whom to grant it to.

Owaisi on Saturday (February 5) alleged that three to four miscreants fired shots at his car near the Chhajarsi toll plaza in Kithaur, Meerut, while he was returning to Delhi after an election campaign. The tyres of his vehicle got punctured in the firing and he had to escape in another vehicle. Owaisi said the attackers fled the spot, leaving their weapons behind.

Also read: Asaduddin Owaisi says shots fired at his car in UP

UP Police later arrested two people – Sachin Sharma and Shubham – for the attack.  Sachin is suspected to be a member of the BJP as his Facebook profile identifies him as ‘Deshbhakt Sachin Hindu’ and has several photographs of him with state BJP leaders.

Owaisi had called the attack a “well-planned conspiracy” against him and requested the Election Commission of India to initiate an independent probe into the incident.