Will Punish Haridwar Hatemongers If Congress Comes To Power: Harish Rawat

Congress leader Harish Rawat has said the party will punish those accused in Haridwar hate speech case if the comes to power in Uttarakhand. He also dismissed the reports of infighting within the Congress in the state and said, "We are one and under the leadership of Sonia ji and Rahul ji and I am sure we will ensure a victory for Uttarahand."

Mr Rawat's comments to NDTV came days after Yati Narsinghanand, who organised the event in Haridwar last month that called for the genocide of Muslims, was remanded in the Dharam Sansad hate speech case. He was arrested earlier in a different case.

Narsinghanand was arrested on Saturday for objectionable remarks on women. He was sent to 14 days judicial custody a day later, on Sunday. But in the remand application, Dharam Sansad hate speech case was also mentioned, police officials said.

"The charges (in the Dharam Sansad hate speech case) include 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reli­gious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious beliefs)," the police official said.

Narsinghanand is the second person to be taken into custody in the case relating to hate speeches at the Haridwar "Dharma Sansad" or religious assembly last month.

Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi, who was Waseem Rizvi before he converted, was arrested nearly a month after the event, only after the Supreme Court intervention.

Clips from the Haridwar event -- held from December 17 to 20 -- were circulated on social media and drew sharp criticism from former military chiefs, retired judges, activists and even international tennis legend Martina Navratilova.

Those who organised the event and gave the hate speeches maintain that they have done no wrong.