AIMIM seeks action against Yati Narsinghanand for hate speech

Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi and AIMIM legislators met the city police commissioner C.V. Anand on Saturday (October 5, 2024) urging a case be registered against Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati.
| Photo Credit: By Arrangement

Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday (October 5, 2024) met with the city police Commissioner C.V. Anand and submitted a representation urging the police to register a case against controversial religious figure Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati for allegedly delivering a hate speech against Prophet Muhammad, and stoking communal tensions.

The complaint refers to a speech Mr. Narsinghanand made ahead of the Dasara festival, in which he allegedly made derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad. In a post on X, prior to meeting with Mr. Anand, Mr. Owaisi described the comments as “highly condemnable, derogatory, filthy, and obnoxious.” The representation too uses these words.

The representation, which contained a translation of Mr. Narsinghanand’s speech, claimed that said speech was widely shared on social media.

Mr. Owaisi stated that the speech was an “egregious attempt to induce people of one religious community to commit offences against the followers of another religious community,” and noted that this was both a cognizable and non-bailable offence.

Mr. Owaisi, who is the president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, requested that Mr. Narsinghanand be arrested immediately under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Information Technology Act, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). He also sought the removal of the offensive videos from social media platforms to prevent unrest or threats to law and order in Hyderabad and Telangana.

The AIMIM president recalled that a division bench of the Supreme Court, in the Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay vs. Union of India case, had directed states and union territories to register suo motu First Information Reports (FIRs) against individuals who deliver hate speeches, irrespective of their religious affiliation.