Haridwar Dharam Sansad: Second FIR filed for hate speech; 10 Hindu leaders booked

A second FIR has been lodged against 10 persons in connection with a Dharma Sansad held in Haridwar where hate speeches were allegedly delivered by some participants against Muslims. The FIR was lodged in Haridwar's Jwalapur police station on Sunday, based on resident Nadeem Ali's complaint. Those named in the FIR are - Yati Narasimhanand Giri, Waseem Rizvi aka Jitendra Narayan Tyagi, Sindhu Sagar, Dharamdas, Parmananda, Sadhvi Annapurna, Anand Swaroop, Ashwini Upadhyay, Suresh Chahwan and Prabodhanand Giri. A Dharam Sansad was held in Haridwar last week where communal remarks were made against the Muslim community, ex-PM Manmohan Singh, Mahatma Gandhi.

Second FIR filed on Dharam Sansad

The police have already formed a 5-member SIT under an SP-level officer to probe into the case. Previously on Saturday, two more controversial Hindu leaders Sagar Sindhu Maharaj & Yati Narsinghanand Giri were named in the FIR filed in the case. Apart from these two, Wasim Rizvi aka Jitendra Tyagi, Dharm Das and Annapurna have been named in the FIR. Several videos of the accused leaders have surfaced claiming to have the police's support, confident that no action will be taken against them.

Haridwar Dharam Sansad

As per reports, a second 'Dharam Sansad' was organised by controversial monk Yati Narasinghanand in Haridwar, where many hardline monks called for 'genocide against Muslims', among a few other call to action in the event. Other leaders like Annapurna Maa - General secretary of Hindu Mahasabha, claimed that she will use 'weapons' to defend Hindu Sanatan Dharm from those threatening it. Most leaders also vowed to emulate Nathuram Godse and kill anyone who hurt religious sentiments.

Videos, now viral on Twitter, from the event show Bihar's Dharamdas Maharaj threatening to kill ex-PM Manmohan Singh for saying 'minorities have first right over national resources'. Emulating the Mahatma's assassin, he said that he would 'not have hesitated to shoot at him (Singh) six times in the chest', had he been an MP. Narasinghanand, who has habitually spewed communal statements, coined the term, "Shastrameva jayate', on the lines of India's motto - 'Satyameva Jayate'.

Shocked at the communal speech, top Congress leaders - Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid and others slammed it. The Wayanad MP, who has been promoting the 'Hindu Vs Hindutva' debate said  'Hindutva always spread hatred and violence and  Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Christian pay the price'. Similar to Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra termed the open call to 'murder' ex-PM Manmohan Singh as despicable, demanding strict action against the organisers.

(With agency inputs)