Haridwar hate speech case: Police arrest former UP Shia Waqf board chief Jitendra Tyagi
Tyagi had recently converted to Hinduism and changed his name from Wasim Rizvi. He is the first person to be arrested in the case.
The Uttarakhand Police on Thursday arrested Jitendra Tyagi, one of the accused persons in the Haridwar hate speech case, ANI reported. Haridwar Superintendent of Police Swatantra Kumar said that Tyagi was arrested from Narsan town.
Tyagi was earlier known as Wasim Rizvi and was the chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board. He had recently converted to Hinduism and changed his name.
Uttarakhand Police have arrested Wasim Rizvi alias Jitendra Tyagi in connection with the Haridwar 'Dharm Sansad' hate speech case from Narsan border, Roorkee: Swatantra Kumar, SP City Haridwar pic.twitter.com/LrtYBIjid5
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) January 13, 2022
The hate speech case pertains to an event called “dharam sansad”, or religious parliament, held in Haridwar between December 17 and December 19. At the event, Hindutva supremacists had called upon Hindus to buy weapons to commit genocide against Muslims.
Two first information reports have been filed in the case so far.
The first FIR was filed on December 23 and had just named Tyagi. On December 26, the Uttarakhand Police had added to the FIR, the names of Annapurna, also known as Pooja Shakun Pandey, and Dharamdas. Annapurna is the general secretary of Hindutva organisation Hindu Mahasabha. On January 1, the names of Yati Narsinghanand Giri and Sagar Sindhu were added in the FIR.
Giri, also known as Yati Nargsinghanand Saraswati, has made several extremist comments in the past as well. At the Haridwar event, he had called upon Hindus to pick up weapons, asserting that “economic boycott” of Muslims will not work.
On January 2, the second FIR was filed against 10 persons, including Giri and Sindhu. The other accused persons named in the FIR are event organisers Dharamdas, Parmananda, Annapurna, Anand Swaroop, Ashwini Upadhyay, Suresh Chahwan and Prabodhanand Giri and Tyagi.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is hearing a plea seeking an impartial inquiry by a special investigation team into the hate speeches. On Wednesday, the court had issued a notice to the Uttarakhand government asking for its response to the petition within 10 days.
Also read:
- Julio Ribeiro: Unless majoritarian hate is stopped, it will destroy the India of our dreams
- ‘Shoot them’: In Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh, hate speech against Muslims, Christians goes unchecked
