Ghaziabad police filed an FIR against Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of Alt-News following a complaint by an aide of controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand. over his social media posts. It is alleged that Zubair posted an old video of Narsinghanand and promoted enmity among religious groups.
Udita Tyagi, General Secretary of the Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Foundation, has filed a complaint with the Kavinagar police. She alleges that Zubair posted an old video of Narsinghanand on October 3, claiming it was meant to incite violence against him from the Muslim community.
On the other hand, Narsinghanand is facing multiple FIRs and protests from Muslim groups against his alleged remarks against Prophet Muhammad.
According to the police, the FIR against Zubair was lodged 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).
After the video was posted on social media, a large crowd on Friday night gathered outside the Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad, which Narsinghanand heads, to protest against his remarks. After this, security was stepped up around the premises. Ten people were arrested for allegedly pelting stones during the protest, police said as reported by PTI.
Members of Hindu outfits then 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. The members of the Hindu outfits also held a demonstration outside the office of the police commissioner at police lines in Harsaon and demanded action against Zubair, AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi, Islamic scholar Arshad Madani and others, alleging that they were instigating Muslims to target the Dasna temple.
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