NEW DELHI, Jan 17: Yati Narsinghanand, the main organiser of the Haridwar “Dharma Sansad” last month from where the call for genocide of the Muslims was issued, has now also been slapped with hate speech charges. The police had earlier stated that his arrest two days ago and remand to police custody was only for making derogatory comments against women.
Narsinghanand was arrested on Saturday for objectionable remarks on women. He was sent to 14 days judicial custody a day later, on Sunday. But in the remand application, Dharma Sansad hate speech case was also mentioned, police officials said.
“The charges (in the Dharam Sansad hate speech case) include 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs),” the police official said.
Narsinghanand is the second person to be taken into custody in the case relating to hate speeches at the Haridwar “Dharma Sansad” or religious assembly last month. Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi, who was Waseem Rizvi before he converted, was the first to be arrested last week, nearly a month after the event, and only after the Supreme Court intervention.
Over the last two weeks, the saffron-robed Narsinghanand has gone from cackling with cops about how a police officer “will be on our side” to cursing them – “all of you will die,” he said on Thursday after the first arrest.
Clips from the Haridwar event — held from December 17 to 20 — were circulated on social media and drew sharp criticism from former military chiefs, retired judges, activists and even international tennis legend Martina Navratilova. But those who organised the event and gave the hate speeches maintain that they have done no wrong. “I am not ashamed of what I have said. I am not afraid of police. I stand by my statement,” Prabodhanand Giri — photographed often with BJP leaders including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Uttarakhand counterpart Pushkar Dhami – had said.
(Manas Dasgupta)