Hyderabad: A criminal case has been registered against local news and YouTube channel Meem TV News after its reporters attempted to question the head of Jamia Nizamia about a contested Waqf land auction in the city.
The Hussainialam Police lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against the channel on Tuesday night, September 8, under Sections 329(4), 352, and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The complaint was filed by Jamia Nizamia secretary Ahmed Mohiuddin Khan, who accused the channel’s reporters of forcefully entering the seminary premises and attempting to create tension.
The reporters in question are female journalists Ayesha Omer and Nabhia Omer, who visited the institution to seek a response on the Telangana government’s recent auction of land in Raidurg under Waqf. According to Meem TV News CEO Sayed Sabdar Ali, Jamia Nizamia head Maulana Mufti Khaleel Ahmed refused to answer their questions. The journalists also alleged that there were attempts to snatch their phones during the exchange.
A video of the encounter, showing a visibly unwilling Maulana Mufti Khaleel Ahmed, was posted on the channel’s YouTube and Instagram pages.
Ali rejected the seminary’s action as an attempt to silence press freedom. “Jamia Nizamia is trying to curb the media’s voice through the police,” he told a news outlet. He noted that the institution had also filed a police complaint against his channel six months earlier, after it reported on the condition of government schools in the Chandrayangutta and Ghouse Nagar areas.
Hussainialam Police confirmed the FIR but declined to share further details, citing an ongoing investigation.
The dispute over Jamia Nizamia’s Waqf land stretches back decades. The property was donated to the institution by Nawab Ghazi Yar Jung Bahadur in 1958 and has remained at the centre of a legal contest for several years, with ownership still unresolved.
The Jamia Nizamia Waqf Land Protection Joint Action Committee has announced a large-scale protest, called a Maha Dharna, on September 13, demanding protection of the land.
