Haridwar hate speeches: Supreme Court agrees to hear PIL in Haridwar Dharam Sansad case

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a PIL seeking action against those who made hate speeches during the recent ‘Dharam Sansad’ held at Haridwar in Uttarakhand. A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana took note of the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal that no action has been taken against those who made the hate speeches despite registration of FIR. In his appeal, Kapil Sibal said that the slogan of the country seems to have changed from ‘Satyameva Jayate’ to ‘Shasatrameva jayate’. He added, “I have moved this PIL in respect of what happened in Dharam Sansad in Haridwar on 17 and 19 December. We are living in difficult times.” At the religious assembly held on December 17-19, several religious leaders had congregated and made controversial and provocative speeches against minority communities, including calling for a genocide of Muslims. The conclave was organised by Yati Narasimhanand, a religious leader who has been accused in the past of inciting violence with his incendiary speeches. In one of the videos from the event, which circulated later on social media, Dharamdas Maharaj, a seer from Patna, targeted former PM Manmohan Singh, saying “I wish I was an MP there holding a revolver; I would have become Nathuram Godse and pumped all the six bullets into him inside Parliament." In another video, Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati is seen to be offering Rs 1 crore to Hindu youth for becoming like LTTE leader Prabhakaran as he called upon Hindu youth to become “Prabhakaran” and “Bhindranwale”. After much outrage, the Uttarakhand Police first filed an FIR naming only one person — Waseem Rizvi who converted and calls himself Jitendra Tyagi - and ‘unknown persons’. However, later four more names were added — Sagar Sidhu Maharaj and Yati Narasimhanand, Dharamdas and Pooja Shakun Pandey. The case against the five has been filed for offences under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between religious groups) and 295A (hurting religious sentiments) of the Indian Penal Code. With inputs from PTI Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.