Yati Narsinghanand booked for hate speech

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 4

The Delhi Police have booked controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand along with other speakers for their inflammatory speeches at “Hindu Mahapanchayat” in Delhi on Sunday, as an FIR has also been registered against a journalist and a news portal for Twitter posts with “religious overtone” in connection with the event.

FIR also against journalist, news portal

• The police registered an FIR against two Twitter handles of a journalist and news portal for allegedly inciting hatred between communities after they claimed manhandling of scribes
• The tweets had insinuated that the journalists were targeted for their religion and could have vitiated the atmosphere, police said

The police said they had denied permission for the event, but the organisers still went ahead with the “Mahapanchayat Sabha” and a few hundred people were present at the venue.

Three FIRs have been lodged in connection with the event, the police said, adding that legal action was being taken against those spreading rumours and misinformation using various platforms, including through social media. All cases were being investigated and no arrests have been made yet, they added.

Some speakers, including Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, head priest of the Dasna Devi temple, and Suresh Chauhanke, Chief Editor of Sudarshan News, uttered words promoting disharmony, feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between the two communities, the police statement said.

A case under Sections 188 and 153A of the IPC was registered. The second FIR was registered on a complaint from two journalists of a news portal, the police said, adding that the third FIR was registered on another complaint by a freelance journalist, who alleged assault during the event.

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