FIR lodged over 'hate' speeches at Dharma Sansad in Haridwar

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An FIR has been lodged against Jitendra Narayan Tyagi and others in connection with alleged hate speeches delivered at a Dharma Sansad in Haridwar to incite violence against the minorities, police said.

Tyagi, who changed his name from Waseem Rizvi after converting to Hinduism earlier this month, and other speakers at last week's event have been accused of making extremely provocative speeches and some video clips of it are doing the rounds on social media. Haridwar Kotwali Police station SHO Rakinder Singh said the FIR was registered on Thursday under IPC Section section 153A -- promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language -- and the matter is under investigation.

The FIR has been registered on the basis of a complaint by a resident of the Jwalapur area in Haridwar. Asked about the video clips being shared on social media, the official said the police is not in possession of any footage of the event yet. A senior TMC leader had demanded on Thursday immediate action against the organisers and speakers of the event held at Ved Niketan Dham in Haridwar for three days last week. Trinamool Congress national spokesman Saket Gokhale lodged a complaint in this connection at Jwalapur police station asking the SHO to register an FIR in the matter within 24 hours.

Gokhale, who shared a copy of his complaint on his Twitter handle, set a deadline of December 27 for the police to arrest the organisers of the Dharma Sansad and those who delivered inflammatory speeches against Muslims and other minorities at the event. If an FIR is not registered against those involved within 24 hours, a complaint will be made to a judicial magistrate, Gokhale said in his complaint to the SHO.

At the event, several speakers allegedly made inflammatory and provocative speeches calling for the killing of people from the minority communities and invoking people to take up arms and shooting a former prime minister. The Dharma Sansad was allegedly organised by Yati Narasimhanand Giri of Juna Akhada who is already under police scanner for making hate speeches and inciting violence against the minorities in the past.

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