On July 7, in the case of Shachi Nelli vs Yati Narsinghanand @ Deepak Tyagi, the Supreme Court of India issued notice in a contempt petition against Hindutva leader Yati Narsinghanand that had been filed after he had made insulting and disparaging remarks about the Supreme Court and the Constitution of India during an interview, the video of which had gone viral on the internet. The controversial religious figure with a divisive ideology, notorious for his diatribe against Muslims and women, is facing scrutiny for his comments suggesting that the Constitution would “consume” Hindus in the country.
The said petition, filed by activist Shachi Nelli, was being heard by a division bench of Justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh. Notably, activist Shachi Nelli had filed the petition, seeking consent from the Attorney-General to initiate contempt proceedings against Narsinghanand. Nelli had argued that Narsinghanand’s remarks undermined the authority of the Supreme Court and interfered with the course of justice. Consent for contempt proceedings was granted by the Attorney-General in response to Nelli’s letter.
It is essential to note that although the bench agreed to issue notice to the respondent and seek his response, no returnable date was given.
Brief of the letter sent by activist Shachi Nelli:
In January 2022, activist Shachi Nelli had written to the Attorney-General of India seeking consent to initiate contempt proceedings against this Meerut-born priest, Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, alias Deepak Tyagi, who is also an accused in Haridwar ‘Dharam Sansad’ hate speech case, over his ‘derogatory’ remarks against the Constitution and the Supreme Court.
In the viral interview, when he was asked about the court proceedings in the ‘Dharam Sansad’ case, Yati Narsinghanand had allegedly said that the Constitution will ‘consume’ the 100 crore Hindus in the country and those who believe in this charter and the extant system will ‘die the death of a dog’. As per a LiveLaw report, Yati Narsinghanand’s exact remarks, as excerpted in Nelli’s letter, were:
“We have no trust in the Supreme Court of India and the Constitution. The Constitution will consume the 100 crore Hindus of this country. Those who believe in this Constitution will be killed. Those who believe in this system, in these politicians, in the Supreme Court and in the Army will all die the death of a dog.”
The said letter had also referred to another portion of the same interview where the right-wing leader, on the issue of the arrests made by the police in the case, had made derogatory remarks against the police by using a transphobic slur and said, “When Jitendra Singh Tyagi went by the name Wasim Rizvi and wrote his book, not a single policeman, not one of these ‘hijde’ policeman or politician had the courage to arrest him.”
Through the letter, Nelli had alleged that the comments made by Yati Narsinghanand sought to “undermine the majesty of the institution and the authority vested in the Supreme Court of India”, and was “a vile and clear attempt at interfering in the course of justice by means of abusive rhetoric and baseless attacks on the integrity of the Constitution and the courts”.
In the month of January only, the then attorney-general KK Venugopal, had granted consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Yati Narsinghanad over his remarks about the Supreme Court and the Constitution, noting that they were a direct attempt to lower the authority of the Supreme Court in the minds of the general public.
In October, 2022, while hearing the contempt petition filed by Nelli, the top court had sought the transcripts of the interview in which Narsinghanand had allegedly made the contentious remarks.
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