SC grants bail for Tyagi on condition he won’t deliver hate speeches

Supreme Court has granted bail to Jitendra Tyagi, formerly Wasim Rizvi for three months on medical grounds. However, it insisted on a commitment from him that he would refrain from more hate speech. A bench of Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice Vikram Nath also put a condition that he will not talk to the media while on bail. The bench has kept the petition pending to watch further developments in the matter.

On March 8, Uttarakhand High Court Judge Ravinder Mathiani had denied bail to Tyagi over his hate speeches. As Rizvi, he was the chairman of the UP Shia Waqf Board before converting to Hinduism and changing his name to Jitendra Tyagi. Several FIRs are pending against him for hate speech.

Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Tyagi, submitted that his client was “wrongly imprisoned” for over 4 months in connection with the registration of the second FIR. It was illegal, he protested. Singh argued that Section 153A – a provision to prevent promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion – was not made against Tyagi as there was no reference to any religious or other community in the FIR. Incidentally, all other co-accused in the case were granted bail.

The Uttarakhand government said that Tyagi can be granted bail only if he reforms in his own way and does not give abusive language. Deputy Advocate General Jatinder Kumar Sethi, representing the state, said that harmony has to be maintained.

Tyagi was a history-sheeter and had at least 4 cases pending against him in Uttarakhand. He said that charge sheets have been filed in three cases.

Originally published at Pen 18