A local court in Uttarakhand rejected the bail plea of controversial Hindu priest Yati Narsinghanand, who was arrested for hate speech during a three day 'dharam sansad' held earlier in December 2021.
Narsinghanand was arrested on 15 January and was sent to 14 days of judicial custody. He was booked under Sections 295 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 509 (intending to insult the modesty of any woman), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (insult intended to provoke breach of peace), and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc) of the Indian Penal Code.
The religious leader – who was the organiser of the Haridwar ‘Dharam Sansad’ where calls were given for the genocide of Muslims – was sent to judicial custody for 14 days.
Narsinghanand, a priest of the Dasna Temple in Ghaziabad, has also been at the centre of many other controversies in the past.
He is among the 10 others who have been named in the FIRs lodged against the Haridwar event where slogans were raised calling for violence against Muslims. The event was also attended by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay and and BJP Mahila Morcha leader Udita Tyagi.
Three FIRs had been filed against Yati Narsinghanand last year for his remarks against women.
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