A Haridwar court granted bail to Dasna Devi temple chief priest and Hindutva leader Yati Narsinghanand on Tuesday in the controversial Haridwar Dharma Sansad hate speech case of December last year. Narsinghanand will, however, stay in jail in connection with another FIR registered against him for allegedly making derogatory comments on women from a specific community. Talking to The Indian Express, general secretary of Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Foundation Trust, Udita Tyagi said that while bail applications in both the hate speech cases and the objectionable comments case were denied last month by the CJM court, Additional District and Sessions judge Bharat Bhushan Pandey granted bail to Narsinghanand after a virtual hearing in the hate speech case on Monday. On January 15, the Haridwar Police had arrested Narsinghanand from Sarvanand Ghat where he was sitting on a hunger strike to protest against the arrest of Waseem Rizvi aka Jitendra Narayan Tyagi on January 13. Tyagi too, was named in the hate speech case. Yati was arrested for making derogatory remarks against women of a particular community and hate speech during a three-day “Dharam Sansad” held last month in Haridwar. A bail application of Juna Akhara Mahamandleshwar and Yati Narsinghanand was denied by a CJM court in Haridwar. In total, two FIRs have been registered in connection with the hate speech case. The first FIR was registered on December 23 on the complaint of one Gulbahar Khan at the Haridwar Kotwali police station under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups and acts prejudicial to harmony) and 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the IPC. A total five persons – Tyagi, Dharamdas Maharaj, Annapurna Maa, Yati Narsinghanand and Sagar Sindhuraj Maharaj – were named in the FIR. Another FIR was registered on January 2 on the complaint of a social worker Nadeem Ali for allegedly making hate speeches at the Haridwar event and continuing to do so in the days that followed. The FIR, under sections 153A and 298 (uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the IPC, named Tyagi and other unidentified persons. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has also been formed to investigate the case. Earlier this month, another FIR was registered against Yati on the complaint of one Ruchika that he made objectionable remarks against women of a particular community. She alleged that in some social media posts, Narsinghanad was seen making derogatory remarks on women of a particular community on January 4 while in conversation with the media.
