Attorney General K K Venugopal agreed on Friday to allow a Mumbai-based activist Shachi Nelli to file criminal contempt of court charges against Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, claiming that his recent remarks against the Constitution and the Supreme Court were a direct attempt to weaken the court’s authority in the public’s eyes.
In an official statement, the Attorney General of India said: “I have gone through your letter and watched the video of the statements made by Yat Narsinganand which have been explained to me. I find that the statement made by Yati Narsinganand, that “Those who believe in this system, in these politicians, in the Supreme Court, and in the Army will all die the death of a dog.” is a direct attempt to lower the authority of the Supreme Court in the minds of the general public. This would certainly amount to contempt of the Supreme Court of India.”
“I accordingly grant consent to initiate proceedings for criminal contempt of the Supreme Court of India in terms of Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 read with Rule 3(a) of the Rules to Regulate Proceedings for Contempt of the Supreme Court of India, 1975,” he added.
Shachi Nelli had written to KK Venugopal a week earlier requesting permission to initiate contempt proceedings against Narsinghanand for his remarks in an interview on social media on January 14.
The activist wrote in his letter: “On being asked about the court proceedings in the Haridwar hate speech case, Yati Narsinghanand went on to state that ‘we have no trust in the Supreme Court of India and the Constitution. The Constitution will consume the 100 crore Hindus of this country. Those who believe in this Constitution will be killed. Those who believe in this system, in these politicians, in the Supreme Court and in the Army will all die the death of a dog’.”
Recently, on a plea seeking an independent investigation into alleged hate speeches in Haridwar and Delhi, the Supreme Court had served notice on the Centre, Uttrakhand, and Delhi police.
SIT formed to probe Dharma Sansad speeches that leftist and Islamists deemed hateful
It may be recalled that on January 2, a 5-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted by the Uttarakhand govt to probe the allegations of hate speech that surfaced against the 3-day ‘Dharma Sansad’ event held in Haridwar. Besides, an FIR was filed and two leaders including Yati Narasimhanand and Sagar Sindhuraj, who had participated in the ‘Dharam Sansad’ event were named in the First Information Report (FIR) pertaining to the hate speech case.
Police action against Yati Narsinghanand and others in the Dharma Sansad case
It may be recalled that a day after speeches of leaders like Yati Narsinghanand and other Hindu leaders went viral, an FIR was filed in Uttarakhand over the speeches that called upon Hindus to collect arms. The speeches were deemed as provocative and arrests of those involved had ensued.
