Haridwar event: 5-member SIT set up to probe hate speech case
A five-member special investigation team (SIT) was constituted on Sunday by Uttarakhand Police to probe the hate speeches at a religious gathering in Haridwar
A five-member special investigation team (SIT) was constituted on Sunday by Uttarakhand Police to probe the hate speeches at a religious gathering in Haridwar. A criminal case has been already filed in the matter.
The move comes a day after investigators added two more names — Yati Narsinghanand, the organiser of the event, and Sagar Sindhu Maharaj — to the list of accused persons, the Uttarakhand’s director general of police Ashok Kumar said on Saturday, taking the total number to five.
The first information report registered on December 23 listed only one accused, Jitendra Narayan Tyagi, formerly Waseem Rizwi. Later, two more names, Annapurna Maa alias Pooja Shakun Pandey, and Dharamdas Maharaj, a general secretary of the Hindu Mahasabha, were added.
The SIT has been formed “for a fair and unbiased probe”, said Karan Singh Nagnyal, deputy inspector of police, Garhwal range.
“The SIT will be led by a superintendent of police, assisted by an additional SP, one inspector and two sub-inspectors. The case, which was being investigated by Haridwar Kotwali police, will be handed over to the SIT. Necessary legal action will be taken against the accused after investigation,” said Nagnyal.
Police have added Section 295(a) (insulting a religion with deliberate and malicious acts) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to the complaint. Earlier, only Section 153 (a) (promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred) of the IPC was mentioned.
In another development, police on Sunday registered one more case against accused Tyagi at Jwalapur police station of Haridwar after receiving a complaint from a local resident.
“Following a complaint by a local resident Nadeem Ali, a case was registered against him under Sections 153(a) and 298 (deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person) of the IPC,” said inspector Chandrakar Naithani, station house officer of Jwalapur police station.
The decision to assign a special team to probe the politically sensitive case comes against the backdrop of criticism that the police probe has been moving at a slow pace. On Friday, lawyer Kartikeya Gupta said police should have been more “active” in probing the case relating to communal issues.
Uttarakhand police chief Kumar, however, insisted police are “taking all necessary action” in the case.
The event where hate speeches targeting minorities were made from the podium was held from December 17-19 in Haridwar.
A police case was registered after videos of the event emerged on social media on December 22. Initially, the case was assigned to a sub-inspector of the Kotwali police station for investigation.