Section 144 imposed to prevent 'Hindu Mahapanchayat' in Uttarakhand's Dada Jalalpur

The move to impose section 144 came with the Supreme Court directing the Uttarakhand chief secretary on Tuesday to place on record that no untoward statement will be made at the 'Dharam Sansad'.
For representational purpose. (File Photo)
For representational purpose. (File Photo)

DEHRADUN: After the Supreme Court of India warned the officials of Uttarakhand that they will be held responsible for any objectionable speech in the proposed 'Hindu Mahapanchayat/Dharam Sansad' scheduled to take place on Wednesday in a village in Roorkee of Haridwar district, the police enforced prohibitory orders under CRPC section 144 in Dada Jalalpur village near Roorkee stopping the event.

Yogendra Singh Rawat, Senior superintendent of police in Haridwar district said, "Section 144 has been imposed in the 5km radius of the village where the meet was scheduled to take place. The police has also detained 33 people associated with the event."

The village had witnessed communal tension recently when a Hanuman Jayanti procession was pelted with stones there on April 16.

This comes after Supreme Court on Tuesday remarked that senior officials of Uttarakhand will be held responsible if any objectionable statement is made in the event.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand police on Wednesday arrested the third accused in the Haridwar hate speech case.

Dineshananda Bharti aka Sagar Sindhu Maharaj, convener of 'Kali Sena', a group which recently announced to recite Hanuman Chalisa in Roorkee was arrested and has been sent to judicial custody by the local court.

Swatantra Kumar Singh, SP City Haridwar said, "Sagar Singh Maharaj has been arrested in the matter pertaining to alleged hate speech in Dharam Sansad. He was produced in local court from where he has been sent to the judicial custody."

The police have registered cases on five people in the matter including Yati Narsinghananda, Sagar Sindhu Maharaj, Sadhvi Annapurna Bharti, Sant Dharamdas and Wasim Rizvi aka Jitendra Narayan Tyagi.

Out of these five Tyagi, Narsinghananda were arrested earlier. The latter is out on bail while Tyagi is still in jail.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, Yati Narsinghanand delivered yet another hate speech at a 'religious' conclave in Una, Himachal Pradesh violating the conditions of his bail.

The organisers of the conclave openly appealed to Hindus to pick up the calling for targeted killings of Muslims.

Narsinghanand was granted bail in February this year in the case pertaining to alleged insult to women by Haridwar Sessions Court.

Narsinghananda, the organizer of Dharam Sansad was arrested by Haridwar police on January 15, 2022.

In December 2021, after outrage on video clips from three day 'Dharma Sansad' in Haridwar from December 17-19 with anti-minority comments and a participant saying he would have emptied his revolver in the chest of Dr Manmohan Singh, the then Prime Minister of India, Uttarakhand police on December 23 registered a case against Tyagi in the matter.

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