From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Jitendra Narayan Tyagi, formerly known as Wasim Rizvi, in the Dharma Sansad (religious Parliament) held in Haridwar from December 17 to 19, for alleged inflammatory speeches made against the Muslims.
The bail is granted on a condition not to address electronic or social media and not indulge in such activities any more, directly or indirectly.
He was arrested on January 13 after he was booked under Sections 153A and 298 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Tyagi, a former chairman of the Shia Waqf Board, had converted to Hinduism in December 2021, changing his name from Wasim Rizvi to Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi.
A Bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and B V Nagarathna ordered his production before the trial court within three days and released on the post-arrest bail, subject to terms and conditions to the satisfaction of the trial court and furnishing undertaking in above terms before the trial court.
“If the petitioner violates or commits a breach of any of the conditions on which bail has been granted to him, the respondents/prosecution is at liberty to move an application seeking cancellation of bail,” the bench said.
On August 29, the top court had refused to extend the interim bail granted earlier on medical grounds and directed Tyagi to surrender. The apex court on May 17 had granted three months of interim bail to him on medical grounds and directed him to give an undertaking that he would not indulge in any 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. Justice Ravindra Maithani of Uttarakhand high court had refused his bail. “The Prophet has been abused; it intends to wound the religious feelings of persons belonging to a particular religion; it intends to wage war. It promotes enmity. It is a hate speech,” the judge said.
Haridwar Kotwali Police had registered a case against Tyagi and others on the complaint of local resident Nadeem Ali that in the garb of the the Dharma Sansad organised by the Hindu sages, “participants were instigated to wage a war against the Muslims.”
Objectionable words were allegedly 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 as the videos of the hate speeches were also circulated by Tyagi, Yati Narsinghanand and others.
The first information report (FIR) also alleged that an attempt was made by Prabodhanand Giri to spread violence against the people living in Haridwar’s mosques.
On 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 various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly delivering hate speeches in the name of religion at the conclave.
