Petition Update
16 January 2022
As of today our petition, ‘Charge Yati Narsinganand for continuous hate speech and vilification of Indian Muslims,’ endorsed by 17 groups and 7,884 supporters from across the world has led to the arrest of Yati Narsinganand. Read more information about the petition itself below.
As members of Indian diaspora and allies of India, we take pride in Indian pluralism and constitutional values. We demand from the Home Minister of India Mr. Amit Shah that Yati Narsingh Anand and his key disciples/associates be immediately arrested for the act of inciting communal violence and creating an atmosphere of fear.
The Issue
As members of the Indian diaspora and its allies, we are deeply concerned about a series of hateful and genocidal statements made and circulated by Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati and his followers. Just one of his hate-filled messages has been viewed over 32 million times on Facebook!
We demand that Yati Narsinghanand and his supporters who have been continuously inciting hate and violence under non-bailable and cognisable sections, be arrested and charged.
Yati Narsinghanand who is a far-right fundamentalist priest at the Dasna Devi temple has openly supported acts of genocide and violence against Indian Muslims, calling for the creation of an India without Muslims. Yati’s statements on social media are outright dehumanisation of Indian Muslims and inciting violence against Indian Muslims.
Disciples of Yati Narsingh Anand, including Vikas Sehrawat, Shringi Yadav, Sukhdev Sahdev, Rambhagat Gopal and Kunal Sharma, have acted on Yati’s calls for action and have been involved in vicious assaults. For example, Shringi Yadav viciously assaulted a 14-year-old Muslim child for entering the Dasna Temple to drink water. Yati later justified this act by saying that he had trained his followers to give befitting replies to trespassers from a Muslim community.
Sukhdev Sahdev, another disciple of Yati’s, made statements on social media that non-Hindus should be banned within a 100-kilometre radius of the Ayodhya Mandir.
Kunal Sharma, was responsible for the infamous “sulli deals” case. He allegedly put up images of Muslim women on social media in a bid to “auction them”. Sharma also shared the numbers of Muslim women on social media with “Muslim Ladki Patao Abhiyan” (programme for ‘educating’ Muslim women).
Rambhagat Gopal had shot at an anti-CAA protester outside Jamia Milia Islamia on January 30, 2020. However, like Yati, Yati’s cohort has either not been arrested at all or granted bail on flimsy grounds.
Yati Narsingh Anand’s videos on Facebook calling for the genocide of Indian Muslims fall within the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC): Section 153A, Section 295A, Section 298, and Section 505(2), all of these sections constitute a non-bailable offence under Indian Penal Code. Not arresting Yati and persons like Yati violates the constitutional mandate under Art. 20, 21, 22, 25 of the Indian constitution.
Full details and updates about the petition can be found on the original page here.
Endorsing organisations:
Stichting the London Story, Europe
Indian American Muslim Council, USA
Hindus for Human Rights, USA
The Humanism Project, Australia
India Solidarity Network, Europe
Friends of India, Texas, USA
South Asia Solidarity Group, UK
Aotearoa Alliance of Progressive Indians, New Zealand
Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE), New Zealand
India Solidarity Germany, Germany
Scottish Indians for Justice, UK
Turbine Bagh
India Solidarity Network Finland, Finland
International Solidarity for Academic Freedom in India (InSAF India), Europe
India Civil Watch International, USA
People Against Apartheid and Fascism
Justice for All