Six held in Ghaziabad after protests against Yati Narsinghanand for alleged hate speech

The Ghaziabad Police on Sunday arrested six men, who were part of a mob of nearly 150 persons, for allegedly throwing stones at police officers during a protest against Hindutva supremacist Yati Narsinghanand Giri purportedly uttering hate speech targeting Muslims, The Indian Express reported.

Narasinghanand, who is the priest of the Dasna Devi temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, reportedly made a derogatory comment about Prophet Muhammad during a sermon on September 29.

After a video of the sermon began circulating online, Muslim groups protested in several cities in Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Telangana.

Subsequently, first information reports were filed against Narsinghanand in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana for alleged hate speech.

On Friday, tensions escalated near a temple in Ghaziabad during protests against Narsinghanand’s remarks and stones were hurled at police officers, according to The Indian Express.

“Several police teams have been constituted to arrest the rest of those accused in this case,” Lipi Nagaich, assistant commissioner of police in Ghaziabad’s Wave City, told The Indian Express.

A first information report was filed against the mob under sections pertaining to defiling a place of worship, statements conducing to public mischief, rioting and assaulting a public servant, among others.

The six men were identified as Sameer Mohammad, Sajid, Aamir, Shoaib, Farman and Shahzad Syed, another unidentified police officer said. All...

Read more