Jitendra Tyagi, once known as Waseem Rizvi, was arrested by the Uttarakhand Police in January 2022 for his hate speech at the Hindutva conclave Dharam Sansad held in December last year. Now the Uttarakhand High Court has said that the speech delivered by Rizvi-Tyagi amounted to “hate speech that intended to wage war, promoted enmity and was derogatory towards Prophet Muhammad” in the case titled Jitendra Narayan Tyagi alias Waseem Rizvi vs State of Uttarakhand.

According to a report in Bar and Bench, these observations were made by Justice Ravindra Maithani who had refused to grant bail to Rizvi-Tyagi last week. “This Court refrains to reproduce from the transcript as to what was allegedly stated by the applicant. But, undoubtedly, the transcript reveals that there are huge derogatory remarks against a particular religion; against Prophet. The Prophet has been abused; it intends to wound the religious feelings of persons belonging to a particular religion; it intends to wage war. It promotes enmity. It is a hate speech,” stated the Court order.

Tyagi, the former chairperson of Shia Waqf Board who recently converted to Hinduism, was arrested by the Uttarakhand Police in January 2022 for his inflammatory speech at Haridwar in December last year.

This comes after the Haridwar local courts had denied bail to the hate mongers in January 2022. In the same month, the Supreme Court had also issued notice in the petition seeking an SIT probe into the religious conclaves that took place in December 2021 in Haridwar and Delhi. At these conclaves, pernicious calls for genocide were made against the minority community posing a threat to communal harmony.

When Tyagi was being arrested, his spiritual and hate speech guru Yati Narsinghanand told the police officers he too was involved, and that "Tyagi is understanding the situation… He became a Hindu counting on our support."

Wasim Rizvi turned Tyagi, is the former chairman of Uttar Pradesh’s Shia Waqf Board who ‘quit’ Islam, and converted to Hinduism in December 2021. He was renamed Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi at the Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad, and was blessed by Yati Narsinghanand, its chief priest. Tyagi’s last act as Wasim Rizvi, was a deeply communal and Islamophobic diatribe, published as a book titled “Muhammad,” purportedly on the life of the Prophet Mohammed, one of the most revered figures in Islam. At the book launch ceremony, Rizvi was seen in the company of fellow hate offender Narsinghanand. 

The Haridwar ‘Dharma Sansad’ hate conclave was Rizvi-Tyagi’s first major Hindutva event since his conversion. As Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi he walked in the spotlight there came when lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unveiled a “Hindutva” edition of the Constitution saying, “I got a "Bhagwa Samvidhan (Saffron Constitution) in Hindi and want "Gurudev" Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati [to launch it] to come in the front, this is his fight. Come here Wasim Ji… Tyagi ji you also, take photos everyone.” 

As global outrage spread over the event Wasim Rizvi a.k.a Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi was then named in the First Information Report (FIR) registered by Uttarakhand Police under Section 153A IPC, (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), registered in Kotwali Haridwar.

Last week, Justice Maithani “rejected the argument by Rizvi’s counsel that he was protected under the fundamental right to free speech” stated news reports, adding, "The Court said that the freedom of speech is not an absolute right and is subject to limitations contained in Article 19(2) of the Constitution." Justice Maithani cited Dr. BR Ambekar’s speech in constituent assembly as well as the Supreme Court judgement in Pravasi Bhali Sangathan case to elucidate the point.

The Court ordered, “Having considered the repeated nature of allegations; the kind of utterances which the applicant has allegedly made, published video message and its possible impact on the society, this Court is of the view that it is not a fit case for bail. Accordingly, the bail application is liable to be rejected.” According to B&B Senior Advocate Rakesh Thaplyal, and advocate Lalit Sharma appeared for Tyagi, the State was represented by Additional Government Advocate (AGA) Pratiroop Pandey. Advocate Pranav Singh appeared for informant Nadim Ali.

The complete order may be read here: 

Tyagi-Rizvi in the net, what about the others?

Meanwhile Narsinghanand, was granted bail by the Haridwar SessionsCourt in a case registered against him for his alleged offensive and derogatory remarks on Muslim women. It is pertinent to note that he was in judicial custody for two cases; the first was for making calls for genocide at the Haridwar Dharam Sansad December 9, 2021, and the other is the current case. He was granted bail in the former by the Sessions court and the same judge has granted him bail in this case where he has made derogatory remarks against Muslim women and that too on similar grounds.

In March, Narsinghanand was booked by Maharashtra Police for hate speech against former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Narsinghanand had attacked President Kalam for his Muslim identity, and levied ridiculous and dangerous charges against the eminent scientest who is revered even by the right-wing ecosystem. 

Related:

Is Prayagraj’s ‘Sant Sammelan’ just another edition of Haridwar’s infamous Dharma 

Contempt plea against Yati Narsinghanand receives AG’s consent

Dharm Sansad: Haridwar local courts deny bail to hate mongers