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In May, Tyagi was granted bail on Medical grounds for two and a half months. When this period came to an end, Tyagi was asked to surrender with the observation that his bail plea would be considered once he surrendered.
In a matter pertaining to the alleged hate speech at Haridwar Dharam Sansad that happened in December 2021, the Supreme Court today refused to quash the FIRs registered against Jitendra Tyagi aka Wasim Rizvi.
A Bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M. Trivedi told the petitioner that he should approach the Uttarakhand High Court as the incidents occurred in Haridwar.
"There is no reason for coming to this court”, the bench added.
Moreover, the counsel for the State of Uttarakhand informed the bench that since the chargesheet in the matter had been filed, the trial court could be approached for any relief.
In September last year, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Tyagi after noting that co-accused in the case was already out on bail and the chargesheet was filed after investigation.
Just a month before, the top court had ordered Tyagi to surrender on or before September 2, 2022, in light of the end of the 3 months of medical bail which was granted to him. A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi & BV Nagarathna had then stated that they will consider the regular bail of Tyagi on September 9 after he surrenders.
On May 17, a bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath granted bail to Tyagi and ordered that the matter be listed after two and a half months.
Tyagi recently converted to Hindu Religion in Shiv Shakti Temple, Dasna, District Ghaziabad according to Sanatan Dharam on December 6, 2021. He was invited to “Dharam Sansad” event organised from December 17-19, 2021.
In December 2021, an FIR was lodged by Gulbahar Khan against Tyagi alleging that he made derogatory comments on Prophet Mohammed and Quran during the Dharam Sansad event.
Further, it was alleged that on January 2, 2022, Tyagi released a video abusing Islam and the Prophet.
In January last year, a local court at Haridwar denied bail to Tyagi for his alleged offensive and provocative comments against the Muslim community.
Also, the Uttarakhand High Court in March denied bail to Tyagi in the 'Haridwar Dharam Sansad case' while observing that Tyagi's speech at the religious congregations at Haridwar was indeed a hate speech.
The order read, "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."
Accordingly, an SLP was filed by him challenging the Uttarakhand High Court's order denying his bail Application. He had contended that only a few isolated words of the speech cannot be taken note of in light of the FIR registered under Sections 153A (Promoting enmity between groups), 298 (deliberately hurting religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 by Uttarakhand Police.
"....the basis of the speech attributed to the Petitioner was a desire for reform and a few isolated words of the speech cannot be read to undermine the fact that the contents of the speech were to demonstrate the need for reforms...", the SLP stated.
Case Title: Jitendra Tyagi aka Waseem Rizvi vs. UoI and Ors
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