Out on bail, hate speech accused Yati Narsinghanand stirs row

New Delhi, April 3

Yati Narsinghanand, the head priest of Ghaziabad’s Dasna Devi Temple and an accused in the Haridwar hate speech case, today triggered another controversy by allegedly promoting communal violence.

Narsinghanand was speaking at an event organised by Preet Singh, founder of Save India Foundation, where around 200 people had gathered to participate in a “Hindu Mahapanchayat”.

The foundation had earlier held similar controversial events in Haridwar and at Jantar Mantar in the national capital, where anti-Muslim slogans were raised.

Sources said permission for holding the event at Burari grounds was not granted by the Delhi Government. Narsinghanand is currently out on bail in the hate speech case.

A purported video of the mahapanchayat wherein Narsinghanand was seen delivering the controversial speech got widely circulated on social media, but it could not be verified.

A few Delhi-based journalists alleged they were manhandled. Sharing a tweet by one of the journalists who alleged he, along with others, was detained by the police, DCP (Northwest) Usha Rangnani tweeted, “Nobody was detained.” “Some reporters on their own free will, to evade the crowd which was getting agitated by their presence, sat in the PCR van stationed at the venue and opted to proceed to police station for security reasons. No one was detained. Due protection was provided,” she tweeted.

Scribes allege assault

• Some Delhi-based journalists alleged they were manhandled at the Hindu mahapanchayat
• The event was organised by Save India Foundation, which held a controversial event in Haridwar in Dec ’21