SC grants bail to Haridwar hate speech accused Jitendra Tyagi | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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SC grants bail to Haridwar hate speech accused Jitendra Tyagi

ByAbraham ThomasAbraham Thomas
Sep 12, 2022 07:40 PM IST

The Supreme Court granted bail to Jitendra Narayan Tyagi alias Waseem Rizvi on the condition that he should not make any statement in the media with regard to the pending case.

The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Jitendra Narayan Tyagi alias Waseem Rizvi, an accused in the Haridwar hate speech case, on the condition that he should not make any statement in the media with regard to the pending case.

The Supreme Court sought the response of the Uttarakhand government on a separate petition moved by Jitendra Tyagi to club all the FIRs against him. (File)
The Supreme Court sought the response of the Uttarakhand government on a separate petition moved by Jitendra Tyagi to club all the FIRs against him. (File)

“No purpose is left in this case to keep him in custody when charges have already been framed,” a bench of justices Ajay Rastogi and BV Nagarathna said. The charge sheet was filed in March and the trial court framed charges against Tyagi and others in May.

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Tyagi 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.

After the Uttarakhand high court refused him bail on March 8, Tyagi moved the Supreme Court citing his failing medical health and the fact that other co-accused Narsinghanand was already granted bail in February.

Tyagi was granted a three-month medical bail by the top court on May 17. On August 29, the top court directed him to surrender in order to argue his bail plea. The Uttarakhand government opposed the grant of bail as it pointed out that there were three different offences registered against Tyagi in relation to hate speech.

The top court issued notice and sought the response of the Uttarakhand government on a separate petition moved by Tyagi to club all the first information reports (FIRs) against him.

Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for Tyagi along with advocate Pulkit Srivastava, gave a list of the cases pending against the petitioner and prayed to the court for a direction to club the FIRs related to hate speech.

Also Read | SC directs Haridwar hate speech accused Jitendra Tyagi to surrender by Friday

Uttarakhand’s deputy advocate general, Jatinder Kumar Sethi, told the court that the three offences registered against Tyagi pertained to different incidents and under different offences which cannot be clubbed together. In the Haridwar hate speech case, he was charged for offences under Section 153A (promoting enmity between religious groups and Section 298 (uttering words aimed to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The case against him and others was lodged on the complaint of Nadeem Ali, a resident of Jwalapur Haridwar at Haridwar Kotwali on January 2 this year. Later, Tyagi also released a video containing insinuations against Prophet Muhammad and the Muslim community.

Advocate Mahmood Pracha, appearing for the complainant, told the court that the cases against Tyagi are different and need to be tried separately.

The top court in May said that the statements made by Tyagi were not in good taste. “This is something which is spoiling the whole atmosphere,” the court observed. Tyagi, who was earlier the Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Shia Wakf Board and known by the name Waseem Rizvi, converted to Hinduism in December last year.

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