A Haridwar court on Monday, 7 February, granted bail to Hindu religious leader Yati Narsinghanand in a case filed against him in connection with the Haridwar ‘Dharam Sansad’ where calls were given for the genocide of Muslims.
The Dasna Devi temple head, one of the organisers of the religious congregation in Hardiwar in December, had made inflammatory remarks and calls for violence at the event. Narsinghand has also, separately, been accused of making derogatory remarks against women, and his arrest was in connection with that as well.
District and Sessions Judge Bharat Bhushan Pandey, however, noted that the offences Narsinghand has been accused of, are punishable up to three-years of imprisonment, and granted him bail.
The religious leader, who was arrested on 16 January, 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 (IPC).
WHAT ELSE DID THE COURT SAY?
Granting him bail, the court also emphasised that bail is a rule and jail an exception. Further, the court reportedly took into account that Narsinghanand had not been convicted in any case so far.
According to LiveLaw, the court also stressed on the fact that the FIR had been filed on the complaint of an informant who had not been present at the event, and the FIR did not specifically carry the name of the accused.
The complaint, however, had been filed based on a video doing the rounds of the internet, in which Yati Narsinghand could be scene partaking in the hate speeches.
BACKGROUND
The ‘Dharam Sansad’ took place from 17 to 19 December in Uttarakhand's pilgrimage city of Haridwar, where multiple calls to kill minorities and attack their religious spaces were made.
A part of the event was live-streamed on social media. The videos of some of the speeches have also gone viral.
Other than those in connection with this event, three FIRs had also been filed against Yati Narsinghanand last year for his remarks against women.
(With inputs from LiveLaw.)
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