Srinagar: A city court here has ordered the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) to constitute a team to arrest Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi in connection with a case registered over his alleged statement against Islam in 2021.
The order was passed by the court of Second Additional Munsiff, Judicial Magistrate 1st Class Srinagar, Vikas Bhardwaj, following submissions by the counsel for the complainant that despite several processes, the accused has not appeared before the court.
“Despite several endeavours, the presence of the accused could not be secured. Therefore, in order to secure the presence of the accused, SSP concerned is hereby directed to constitute a team to arrest the accused and produce him before this court by next date of hearing,” the court said and posted the case for further consideration on April 25.
The complaint had been filed against Tyagi (born Syed Waseem Rizvi, who had been a member and chairman of the Shia Central Waqf Board of Uttar Pradesh. Rizvi later converted to Hinduism and took the name Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi) by one Danish Hassan Dar, a resident of Srinagar.
He submitted that Tyagi “outraged, attacked and tarnished his religious feelings” by his statement in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh made on December 6, 2021 that said “Islam was a group or organization and that the Holy Book of Muslims Quran is a false and frivolous literature which has no basis at all”.
Tyagi, allegedly facing accusations of corruption and sexual abuse courted controversy on March 12, 2021, when he filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India where he appealed to remove 26 verses from the Quran.
He claimed in the petition that these verses promote violence among Muslims and that “these 26 verses were not part of the original scripture but inserted at a later stage”.
In response, there has been condemnation from Muslim bodies of both Shia and Sunni sects of Islam. They have demanded Tyagi’s arrest.
A lawyer from Moradabad announced a reward of Rs 11 lakh for “beheading” Tyagi, while Shiane Haider-e-Karrar Welfare Association, a Muslim organisation in Uttar Pradesh, declared a Rs 20,000 reward for Tyagi’s beheading.
In January 2018, Tyagi wrote to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking the abolition of Madrassas (Islamic seminaries) and said that some of them act as “breeding grounds for terrorists” instead of ensuring jobs for Muslims.
