Andhra Pradesh Assembly speaker Nadendla Manohar on Friday said the "hate speech" by Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi could be referred to the Ethics Committee of the House.

"This is an issue concerning ethical conduct of a legislator. Members are expected to act with restraint, responsibility and dignity," the Speaker told reporters here when the issue of Akbar's last month's controversial speech in Adilabad district came up.

"If any such thing happens within the House it can be referred to the Ethics Committee. Since it happened outside the Assembly, there is the executive, the police, to look into it. But how to react to it is under active consideration," he said.

Asked if Akbar's speech would be referred to the Ethics Committee, the speaker said it was a possibility.

"This is the first such case in our assembly history. There were a couple of cases in Parliament. The Ethics Committee will submit a report after an inquiry and recommend necessary action."

The speaker also said that so far he has not been formally informed by police about the case registered against Akbaruddin, who is the floor leader of the seven-member MIM in the assembly.

Meanwhile, photos of Akbaruddin partying with friends in London appeared on fans' page on Facebook, even as the state police pasted notices on the gate of his residence at Banjara Hills here, seeking his presence in connection with the criminal cases registered against him.