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SC directs Haridwar hate speech accused Jitendra Tyagi to surrender by Friday
The Supreme Court noted that several cases are pending against Jitendra Narayan Tyagi alias Wasim Rizv pertaining to the period when he held the post of chairman, Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Wakf Board
The Supreme Court on Monday ended the interim bail granted to Jitendra Narayan Tyagi alias Wasim Rizvi, an accused in the Haridwar hate speech case, and directed him to surrender by Friday.
He was arrested on January 13 along with Yati Narsinghanand, the organiser of the Dharma Sansad held in Haridwar from December 17 to 19.
Both were accused of promoting enmity between religions and hurting religious sentiments after videos of their speeches at the event surfaced on social media.
Tyagi was granted three-month medical bail by the top court on May 17, which was later extended till Monday. Narsinghanand was granted bail in the case on February 8 by a trial court in Uttarakhand.
“This man appears to be involved in many cases,” said a bench of justices Ajay Rastogi and BV Nagarathna during Monday’s hearing as it noted that several cases are pending against Tyagi pertaining to the period when he held the post of chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board. He converted to Hinduism on December 6 last year.
“Your client has to engage a personal secretary to keep track of the cases against him,” the bench told senior advocate Sidharth Luthria as it went through a chart prepared by the Uttarakhand government listing out the criminal cases pending Tyagi in the state and in Uttar Pradesh.
Luthra responded saying that the cases involve multiple first information reports (FIRs) registered against him over the same incident.
Tyagi had moved the top court on March 28 seeking an extension of the bail on medical grounds after the Uttarakhand dismissed his plea for regular bail on March 8.
“Since you are on interim bail, you surrender first, then we will hear your appeal against the HC order,” the bench said. Luthra told the court that his client was 51 years old and doctors had advised him a month’s rest after conducting an angiography.
“He cannot be called old, he is just 51 years. Now, persons remain out on medical grounds to avoid custody. Cases against you are since the year 1994 when you were young. It can’t be that because you were chairman, Shia Waqf Board, so many cases were registered against you,” the bench observed.
“The petitioner whose medical bail expires today (Monday) seeks further extension. This court is not inclined. We direct the lawyer appearing for the petitioner to instruct his client to surrender by Friday (September 2). Let the matter be listed on September 9.”
Uttarakhand’s deputy advocate general, Jatinder Kumar Sethi, told the court that after Tyagi was granted bail on medical grounds, the charge sheet was filed in the hate speech case. He said there was no reason to keep the matter pending in the top court as the petitioner could make a fresh application for regular bail before the Haridwar court.
“High court has already rejected regular bail to him once. If he is not entitled, we will tell him to go back,” the bench said.
The Uttarakhand police booked Tyagi for offences of promoting enmity between religious groups (Section 153A) and uttering words aimed to wound the religious feelings of any person (Section 298) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) following his speeches at the Dharma Sansad.
Two FIRs have been registered against Tyagi over his alleged hate speech – one by Gulbahar Khan on December 23 and the other by one Nadim Ali on January 2. Tyagi’s arrest was made in connection with the second FIR.
Later, Tyagi had also released a video containing insinuations against Prophet Muhammad and the Muslim community.
In May, the bench had told Tyagi while dealing with the bail petition that his statements were not in “good taste”.
“This is something which is spoiling the whole atmosphere,” the court had observed.
Tyagi had moved the top court for bail on medical grounds citing the relief granted to Narsinghanand, who is the head priest of Ghaziabad’s Dasna Devi temple.
In his petition filed through advocate Pulkit Srivastava, Tyagi said, “Assuming the allegations to be true, the basis of the speech attributed to the petitioner was a desire for reform and a few isolated words of the speech cannot be read to undermine the fact that the contents of the speech were to demonstrate the need for reforms.”
