Haridwar Dharma Sansad case: SC extends interim bail to hate speech accused

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended the interim bail granted to Jitendra Narayan Tyagi in connection with the Haridwar Dharma Sansad case involving alleged inflammatory speeches made against Muslims. A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and C T Ravikumar provided relief to Tyagi till August 22.

”Interim bail is extended till the next date of hearing,” the bench said. The apex court on May 17 granted three months of interim bail to Tyagi, formerly known as Wasim Rizvi, on medical grounds and directed him to give an undertaking that he would not indulge in hate speech and not give any statement on electronic or digital, or social media. Tyagi had approached the top court after the Uttarakhand High Court dismissed his bail plea in March this year.

The case against him and others had been lodged on the complaint of Nadeem Ali, a resident of Jwalapur Haridwar at Haridwar Kotwali on January 2, 2022. He had alleged in his complaint that Dharma Sansad or religious Parliament was organised in Haridwar by Hindu sages from December 17 to 19 last year and in the garb of this event, the participants were instigated to wage a war against Muslims.

Objectionable words were used against the holy Quran and Prophet Mohammad, Ali had said in his complaint, adding these provocative statements had later gone viral on social media. These videos were circulated by Wasim Rizvi alias Jitendra Narayan Tyagi, Yati Narsinghanand, and others, he had alleged.

The FIR also alleged that an attempt was made by Prabodhanand Giri to spread violence against the people living in Haridwar’s mosques. On Nadeem Ali’s complaint, Narsindhanand Giri, Sagar Sindhu Maharaj, Dharamdas Maharaj, Parmanand Maharaj, Sadhvi Annapurna, Swami Anand Swaroop, Ashwani Upadhyay, Suresh Chavan along with Swami Prabodhanand Giri, Jitendra Narayan were booked under Sections 153A, 295 and other relevant sections of the IPC for allegedly delivering hate speeches in the name of religion at the conclave.