The Ghaziabad Police on Sunday arrested six men, who were part of a mob of nearly 150 persons, for allegedly throwing stones at police officers during a protest against Hindutva supremacist Yati Narsinghanand Giri purportedly uttering hate speech targeting Muslims, The Indian Express reported.
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, Muslim groups protested in several cities in Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Telangana.
Subsequently, first information reports were filed against Narsinghanand in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana for alleged hate speech.
On Friday, tensions escalated near a temple in Ghaziabad during protests against Narsinghanand’s remarks and stones were hurled at police officers, according to The Indian Express.
“Several police teams have been constituted to arrest the rest of those accused in this case,” Lipi Nagaich, assistant commissioner of police in Ghaziabad’s Wave City, told The Indian Express.
A first information report was filed against the mob under sections pertaining to defiling a place of worship, statements conducing to public mischief, rioting and assaulting a public servant, among others.
The six men were identified as Sameer Mohammad, Sajid, Aamir, Shoaib, Farman and Shahzad Syed, another unidentified police officer said. All six are residents of Ghaziabad.
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.
In Uttar Pradesh, an FIR was lodged against him on Friday at Ghaziabad’s Sihani Gate police station, an officer there confirmed to Scroll.
The FIRs against Narsinghanand accuse him 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”.
Narsinghanand was reported to have been detained by the Uttar Pradesh Police on Saturday, The Indian Express reported, quoting unidentified police officers. His aides were also detained in Ghaziabad, PTI reported.
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”.
BJP leaders in J&K demand legal action
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday demanded strict action against Narsinghanand.
“There is a need for maintaining communal harmony and respecting all religious sentiments,” said Ravinder Raina, the Hindutva party’s chief in the Union territory, The Hindu reported.
“Such inflammatory rhetoric goes against the values of peace and unity that India stands for,” Raina added. “The authorities should take swift legal action to ensure justice and preserve the social fabric of the country.”
Darakhshan Andrabi, BJP leader and chairperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board, also condemned the “highly objectionable” remarks.
“He [Narsinghanand] should be given a severe punishment for hurting the sentiments of crores of believers,” she said on social media. “Such parasites are enemies of peace.”
Prominent Muslim leaders from Jammu and Kashmir also wrote a joint letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah demanding legal action against Narasinghanand, according to The Hindu.
“The inflammatory and defamatory remarks made by Yati Narsinghanand, targeting the holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), have caused severe emotional distress to the Muslim community and created potential for widespread unrest,” the letter said.
It added: “Freedom of speech is a fundamental right in any democratic society, but it cannot be a license to spread hate and cause deep hurt to the religious sentiments of an entire community.”
Signatories of the letter included Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Grand Mufti Nasir-Ul-Islam, head of Darul Uloom Raheemiyah Molana Rehmatullah Qasimi, among others.
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