First information reports have been filed against Hindutva supremacist Yati Narsinghanand Giri in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana for alleged hate speech targeting Muslims.
Narasinghanand, who is the priest of the Dasna Devi temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, reportedly made a derogatory comment about Prophet Muhammad during a sermon on September 29.
After a video of the sermon began circulating online, Muslims groups protested in several cities across Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Telangana.
The FIRs accuse Narsinghanand of promoting enmity between groups, outraging religious feelings, intentionally uttering words to wound the religious sentiments of another person and “actions that harm national integration”.
On Sunday, Narsinghanand was booked by the Thane Police on a complaint by the Social Democratic Party of India, reported The Indian Express.
This came a day after the Hyderabad Police filed an FIR against Narsinghanand, according to India Today. The FIR was lodged on a complaint by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisi.
Narsinghanand was booked under sections of the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
In Uttar Pradesh, an FIR was lodged against him on Friday at Ghaziabad’s Sihani Gate police station, an officer there confirmed to Scroll.
In Maharashtra’s Amravati, at least 21 police personnel were injured on Friday night in mob violence triggered by Narsinghanand’s comment, reported PTI. The protestors were demanding an FIR against the Hindutva leader, who has a history of making allegedly anti-Muslim comments.
“A huge mob…came to the Nagpuri Gate police station around 8.15 pm to press for their demand of registration of a case against Yati Narsinghanand Maharaj of Ghaziabad,” Amravati Police Commissioner Navin Chandra Reddy told reporters. “The in-charge of the police station told the mob that one FIR had already been registered against the seer, following which they went back.
Similar calls for the priest’s arrest were made by political and religious leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, reported PTI.
Two years ago, Narsinghanand was booked in Aligarh for calling for the demolition of madrasas and the Aligarh Muslim University.
In January 2022, Narsinghanand was arrested after he called for the genocide of Muslims at a religious conclave in Haridwar. He got bail in the case in February 2022 on the condition that he would not participate in any gathering “which aims towards creating differences between communities”.
On April 17, 2022, he delivered another inflammatory speech at a religious conclave in Himachal Pradesh’s Una district. He asked Hindus to have more children to ensure that India does not become an “Islamic country”.
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