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The Uttarakhand High Court today uploaded the order denying bail to Jitendra Narayan Tyagi (earlier known as Waseem Rizvi) in the 'Haridwar Dharam Sansad case'. Tyagi's bail application was rejected by the bench of Justice Ravindra Maithani on March 8, 2022. 

Court has observed that Tyagi's speech at the religious congregations that took place from December 17-19, 2021 at Haridwar was indeed a hate speech. 

The order reads, "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."

Noting thus, Court has denied bail to Tyagi "considering the repeated nature of allegations, kind of utterances he allegedly made, and its possible impact on the society."

After his speech at the 'Meet', Tyagi was booked under Sections 153A (Promoting enmity between groups), 298 (deliberately hurting religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 by Uttarakhand Police. Allegedly, Tyagi made insulting and inflammatory remarks against Islam and Prophet Muhammad in his speech which were provocative in nature.

Notably, before the lower court, the Uttarakhand Police had submitted that the same type of crime is being repeated by Tyagi, due to which an atmosphere of resentment and unrest has been created in different communities of the society. It is noteworthy that a total of 53 cases are lying against Tyagi for various offences.

Police in its report had asserted Tyagi's remarks generated communal disharmony, which at any time could adversely affect the law and order situation. There was every possibility of rioting in both the communities regarding the religion, the Police had said.

Notably, the Police had submitted that twice, even after service of notice under Section 41A of the CrPC after the first such incident, Tyagi had made objectionable comments on public platforms. 

Case Title: Jitendra Narayan Tyagi @Vasim Rizvi vs State of Uttarakhand