Dharma Sansad case: Religious leader Yati Narsinghanand sent to 14-day judicial custody

Religious leader Yati Narsinghanand was on Sunday sent to 14-day judicial custody by a Haridwar court in connection with the ‘Dharma Sansad’ hate speech case. Narsinghanand, who was the organiser of the controversial event, was arrested by the Haridwar Police last night; this was the second arrest made in the case after Waseem Rizvi, former chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Central Shia Waqf board.

The religious leaders had apparently called for genocide and the use of arms against Muslims while speaking at the ‘Dharm Sansad’ event in Haridwar from December 17 to 19, 2021.

Subsequently, an FIR was registered against Yati Narsinghanand and Wasim Rizvi alias Jitendra Narayan Tyagi, along with many others, including another Hindu seer named Sagar Sindhu Maharaj, in the hate speech case.

According to the PTI news agency, Narsinghanand, the head priest of the Dasna temple in Ghaziabad, has been booked under Sections 295 (A) and 509 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sent to Roshnabad Jail.

Section 295 (A) deals with deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs while section 509 deals with the word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.

Rakinder Singh Kathait, station house officer (SHO) of the jail, told PTI that Yati Narsinghanand was picked up on Saturday night from Sarvanand Ghat of the Ganga, where he was staging a ‘satyagraha’ against the arrest of another accused in the case – Jitendra Narayan Tyagi, earlier known as Waseem Rizvi.

Tyagi is already in jail, Kathait said. Many of the other speakers at the ‘Dharma Sansad’ are accused of delivering hate speeches.

Two FIRs have been lodged in Haridwar against more than ten people, including Narasinghanand and Tyagi, in this regard. Meanwhile, a special investigation team is probing the case, the police official said.