Alt-News co-founder Zubair booked for post on Narsinghanand

A first information report (FIR) was filed here on Monday against Alt-News co-founder Mohammad Zubair for allegedly promoting enmity among religious groups and other offences following a complaint by an aide of controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand over his social media posts, according to police.

Narsinghanand is facing multiple FIRs and protests from Muslim groups against his alleged remarks against Prophet Muhammad.

In her complaint to Kavinagar police, Udita Tyagi, General Secretary of Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Foundation, has alleged that Zubair posted a video clip of an old programme of Narsinghanand on October 3 to provoke violence by Muslims against him.

The FIR against Zubair was lodged around 2 pm under sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion..), 228 (giving or fabricating false evidence), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 356(3) (related to defamation) and 351 (2) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the police said.

A large crowd had gathered outside the Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad, which Narsinghanand heads, to protest against him on Friday night after videos of his inflammatory remarks appeared online, following which security was stepped up around the premises.

Ten people have been arrested so far for allegedly pelting stones during the protest, according to police.

Earlier in the day, members of Hindu outfits submitted a memorandum to Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra demanding action against the people who 'attacked' the temple on Friday.

The protesters also demanded the release of the priest, alleging that he had been illegally detained by the police, but Mishra maintained that the police were not aware of his whereabouts.

They held a demonstration outside the office of the police commissioner at police lines in Harsaon and demanded action against Zubair, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen's Asaduddin Owaisi, Islamic scholar Arshad Madani and others, alleging that they were instigating Muslims to target the Dasna temple.

Udita Tyagi said she filed a police complaint against Zubair for posting inflammatory content.

Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra said that an FIR was registered on the complaint.

He said that an FIR has also been lodged against the around 150 people who entered the police premises on Monday and shouted slogans before handing over the memorandum.

They have been booked under Section 223 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

On October 3, an FIR was lodged by Sub-inspector Trivendra Singh against Narsinghanand stating that on September 19 he had made derogatory remarks against a community during an event at Hindi Bhavan in Lohiya Naga in a violation of Section 302 of BNS (deals with the offence of uttering words or making sounds to intentionally hurt someone's religious feelings.)

Another FIR was lodged by Bhanu Prakash Singh, sub-inspector and area beat in-charge Dasna area of Wave City police station. In this complaint, the priest's disciples-- Anil Yadav Chota Narsimahanand, Yati Ran Singhanand, Yati Ram Swaroopanand and Yati Nirbhayanand of Dasna temple -- have been accused of making objectionable remarks, a video of which had appeared on social media.

They have been booked at Wave City Police Station under sections 302 and 351 of BNS. 

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Protests in AMU, several parts of UP against Narsinghanand's remarks

Protests were held on Monday in several parts of Uttar Pradesh, including the Aligarh Muslim University, demanding arrest and strict punishment for Narshinganand over his remarks against Prophet Muhammad.

Also, Uttar Pradesh police arrested 13 people in Saharanpur for stone pelting at the Sheikhpura Qadeem police post during a protest on Sunday, and another four for violence on Friday outside the Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad which is headed by Narsinghanand.

In Moradabad, Lok Sabha MP Ruchi Veera reached the collectorate on Monday with her supporters and handed over a memorandum addressed to the President in which she demanded strict action against Narsinghanand, city magistrate Kinshuk Srivastava said.

"Why Yogi Adityanath's bulldozer justice was not implemented under the zero-tolerance policy against the Mahant who made the hateful statement," the Samajwadi Party MP said.

Describing the incidents of stone pelting at different places over the priest's statement as unfortunate, she appealed to the people not to take the law into their hands and said that everyone should exercise restraint.

"Because India is a country of 'Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb', we have to live in brotherhood," she said.

In Bahraich, a delegation of Jamiat Ulema led by its district unit president Quari Juber submitted a memorandum to District Magistrate Monica Rani, demanding that stringent provisions of the law should be invoked against Narsinghanand.

The memorandum stated that Section 302 (uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings of any person) of BNS under which the police have registered the case is generally used for minor hate speech, under which the maximum punishment is one year, Juber told reporters.

He demanded stringent punishment for Narsinghanand.

"Narsinghanand has hatched a despicable conspiracy to defame Islam, which has caused deep resentment in the Muslim community.... Peace, love, and brotherhood cannot be established in the country as long as such people are there," he said.

Hundreds of students of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) took out a protest march on the campus against Narshinganand's remarks amid heavy deployment of police and PAC personnel.

The protestors marched from Duckpoint crossing inside the campus and up to Babey Sir Syed Gate and handed over a memorandum to district officials addressed to the President.

The memorandum alleged that Narshinganand had 'repeatedly stoked communal passions in the country by his hate speeches, but the law enforcement services have failed to take exemplary action against him' which has 'emboldened him to continue his diatribe against Muslims'.

It demanded his immediate arrest under stringent provisions so that the 'peace of the land is not destroyed'.

The memorandum stated that AMU students were 'committed to secular values as enshrined in the Constitution of India' and would continue to work for peace and prosperity of the land.

AMU Spokesman Omar Peerzada told PTI that the protest was 'completely peaceful'.

The students in a separate memorandum addressed to the Chief Justice of India have urged him to take cognisance of this incident.

The protesters also filed a complaint at the Civil Lines police station.

Similar protests were held in a number of places in the old city and a complaint was also lodged at Kotwali police station.

Circle officer-1 Abhay Kumar Pandey told PTI that all such complaints are being redirected to Ghaziabad through a Zero FIR, as the incident took place there.

Members of the Muslim community under the banner of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind also held a sit-in protest in Modinagar in Ghaziabad to press for strict action against the priest and handed over a memorandum, ACP Modinagar Gyan Prakash Rai said.

Multiple FIRs have already been registered against Yati Narsinghanand. His aides have claimed that Narsinghanand has been kept in illegal detention, but the police have denied it.

Meanwhile, Ghaziabad Police said that they have taken four more people into custody in connection with the violence on Friday night outside the Dasna Devi temple, headed by Narsinghanand.

"Mehboob, Jishan, Mazid and Shoeb have been arrested. They confessed that they had pelted stones," ACP Lipi Nagaich told PTI.

Six people were earlier arrested for the incident.

In Saharanpur, a case had been registered against 20 named and other unidentified individuals under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for stone pelting at Sheikhpura Qadeem post during a protest on Sunday.

"Of these 20 named individuals, 13 accused persons were arrested on Sunday. Police teams have been constituted, and efforts are on to nab other accused," Superintendent of Police (city) of Saharanpur Abhimanyu Manglik on Monday told PTI.

District Magistrate of Saharanpur Manish Bansal, who visited the village along with SSP Rohit Sajwan on Monday, said, "The situation in the village is absolutely normal and peaceful. We held a meeting with people of that village, who were present in large numbers, and all of them expressed regret that an incident of this type had taken place in the village."

"The villagers have assured that they will extend help in getting the rest of the accused persons arrested. The situation in the village is normal, and it never had a history of violence," he told PTI.