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

The Supreme Court has granted bail to Jitendra Tyagi, formerly Wasim Rizvi, for three months, on medical grounds. However, it insisted an undertaking from him that he would refrain from more hate speeches. A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath also laid down the condition that he would not speak to the media while on bail. The bench has kept the petition pending to keep an eye on further developments in the case.

Uttarakhand high court judge Ravinder Mathiani had on March 8 refused to grant Tyagi bail over his hate speeches. As Rizvi, he was chairman of the UP Shia Wakf Board, before he converted into Hinduism and was rechristened Jitendra Tyagi. He has multiple FIRs pending against him for hate speeches.

Appearing for Tyagi, senior advocate Vikas Singh said that his client was 'wrongly jailed' for over 4 months in connection with a second FIR filed. This was illegal, he contended. Singh argued that Section 153A - provision to prevent promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion - was not made out against Tyagi as there was no reference to any religious or other communities in the FIR. Incidentally, all other co-accused were granted bail in the case.


The Uttarakhand government said that bail could be granted to Tyagi only if he mends his ways and does not give hate speeches. Harmony had to be maintained, deputy advocate general Jatinder Kumar Sethi, representing the state, said.

Tyagi was a history-sheeter and there were at least 4 cases pending against him in Uttarakhand. Charge sheets have been filed in 3 of the cases, he said.