Haridwar hate speech accused Yati Narasinghanand walks out of jail after local court grants bail in all cases

Yati Narasinghanand was granted bail in the hate speech case by a Dehradun local court on February 7, but he remained in jail on other charges against him, including abusing journalists and passing inappropriate remarks against women.

Haridwar hate speech primary accused Yati Narasinghanand, who was arrested last month over calls for genocide against religious minorities and other cases, has been released from jail. 

Yati Narsinghanand is the sect chief of the influential Juna Akhada. He organised a three-day Dharma Sansad event in December in which he called for genocide against Muslims.

The Dasna temple priest was granted bail in the hate speech case on February 7, but remained behind bars for other cases slapped against him, including one under section 509 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for making objectionable comments against women and abusing journalists.

On Thursday, a local court in Dehradun that granted him bail in the hate speech case, released him from all other charges as well.

Soon after walking out of the Haridwar district jail, Narasinghanand went to the Sarvanand ghat to resume his hunger strike, demanding the release of co-accused in the hate speech case, Jitendra Narayan Tyagi. Talking to media, the Dasna priest said that his release with Tyagi remaining behind bars did not mean anything. Narasinghanand said that he will continue his protests till Tyagi is released. The Uttarakhand high court will hear Tyagi's bail plea on February 21.

Watch | Haridwar Dharam Sansad: Yati Narasinghanand threatens Uttarakhand police

Notably, Tyagi was formerly known as Waseem Rizvi. He was the chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board, and had adopted the new name after converting to Hinduism.

Narasinghanand had organised a three-day religious conclave in Haridwar namely ‘Dharma Sansad’ in December last year wherein he could be heard calling for genocide and usage of arms against Muslims. A video of the event, which was shared widely on social media, triggered massive outrage.

In an interview last month, the Hindu priest said that those who believe in the Constitution, the Supreme Court, the politicians, and the Army will “die a dog's death”. After this, Mumbai-based social activisit Shachi Nelli wrote to the attorney general of India KK Venugopal to initiate contempt proceeding against Narasinghanand. Later, the AG responded to Nelli's letter, and cleared contempt action against the priest.

(With inputs from PTI)