India: Uttarakhand HC seeks govt's stand on Dharma Sansad case

Dharma Sansad

Nainital, Feb 21 (PTI) The Uttarakhand High Court on Monday sought the state government's stand on the Haridwar Dharma Sansad case involving alleged inflammatory speeches made against Muslims.

Hearing the bail plea of Jitendra Narayan Tyagi alias Wasim Rizvi, Justice R C Khulbe asked the state government to clarify its stand on the issue before February 23, the next date of hearing of the bail plea.

The case against Rizvi and others had been lodged on the complaint of Nadeem Ali, a resident of Jwalapur Haridwar at Haridwar Kotwali on January 2, 2022.

He had alleged in his complaint that Dharma Sansad / Religious Parliament was organised in Haridwar by Hindu sages from December 17 to 19 and in the garb of this event, the participants were instigated to wage a war against Muslims.

Objectionable words were used against the holy Quran and Prophet Mohammad, Ali had said in his complaint, adding these provocative statements had later gone viral on social media.

These videos were circulated by Wasim Rizvi alias Jitendra Narayan Tyagi, Yati Narsinghanand and others, he had alleged.

The FIR also alleged that an attempt was made by Prabodhanand Giri to spread violence against the people living in Haridwar's mosques.

On Nadeem Ali's complaint, Narsindhanand Giri, Sagar Sindhu Maharaj, Dharamdas Maharaj, Parmanand Maharaj, Sadhvi Annapurna, Swami Anand Swaroop, Aswani Upadhyay, Suresh Chavan along with Swami Prabodhanand Giri, Jitendra Narayan were booked under Sections 153A, 295 and other relevant sections of the IPC for allegedly delivering hate speeches in the name of religion at the conclave.