Alt News | SabrangIndia

Altnews editor receives serial threats from Hindutva influencers

Fri, 10 Mar 2023 11:41:30 +0000

AltNews co-founder Mohammad Zubair has received numerous online threats from Hindutva influencers after the site busted fake propaganda about attacks on migrant workers in Tamil Nadu. Of those threatening Zubair is a rightwing columnist Harshil Mehta and former OpIndia editor Ajeet Bharti. “The plan is on. This time he will be totally circumcised so much that he’ll need a pipe to urinate,” brazenly tweeted Bharti. Some twitter users went several steps further and suggested lone wolf attacks and an “Akhlaq”-like offensive. In 2015, a year and three months after the Modi 1 regime was voted to power, Mohammed Akhlaq was beaten to death by a mob on the suspicion of eating beef in UP’s Dadri district. This is not the first time that Zubair has been the target of abuse by the Hindu right. In June 2022, he was arrested for allegedly “hurting religious sentiments” with a tweet.

“I am not aware of any death threat, no such information has come to me,” said Bengaluru police commissioner Pratap Reddy to Newslaundry.. “If Zubair approaches us, we will consider giving security based on the case.”

Courtesy: Newslaundry

Pratik Sinha, co-founder of Alt News, said that they were talking with their lawyers about what to do. Before this, Zubair tweeted to say that while he largely ignored or laughed off the torrent of abuse he receives, the flurry of tweets by people about “physically harming & finishing me” had increased after Alt News busted fake propaganda about murderous attacks on migrant Bihari workers in Tamil Nadu. Zubair also told the Wire that he had received threats earlier, but this time the threats were angrier and more explicit.

Over past weeks, several right-wing social media pages, BJP leaders and certain mainstream news channels had falsely claimed that migrant labourers, particularly from Bihar, were being lynched in Tamil Nadu.

It was not just Zubair but several other fact-checkers, who called these out These fact-checks helped counter the disinformation and also led to criminal cases being filed against Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Prashant Umrao, Hindi newspaper Dainik Bhaskar, right wing website OpIndia’s editor Nupur Sharma and CEO Rahul Roushan, and a few YouTubers and Twitter handles.

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No criminality in journalist, Mohd Zubair’s tweet says Delhi Police to High Court

Thu, 05 Jan 2023 12:17:58 +0000

In an interesting turnaround, Delhi Police has now, on Thursday, January 5, informed the Delhi High Court that no criminality was found in the tweet posted by Alt News Co-founder Mohammed Zubair in response to a Twitter user in August 2020. Earlier, police had earlier registered an FIR under POCSO Act against the fact-checker who had had, because of multiple other cases against him, also spent a month in jail.

Advocate Nandita Rao, appearing for Delhi Police, argued before Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani that Mohd Zubair has also not been named in the chargesheet filed in respect of the FIR under the POSCO Act, in question.

Following these developments, the court has now listed the matter on March 2 and asked the police to place the chargesheet on record.

The entire case pertains to a tweet posted by Zubair, sharing the profile picture of a user and asking if it was appropriate for him to use derogatory language in reply while using a profile picture figuring his granddaughter. Zubair in his tweet had appropriately blurred the face of the minor girl

“Hello XXX. Does your cute grand daughter know about your part time job of abusing people on social media? I suggest you to change your profile pic,” Zubair had said in the tweet.

After this, the user had subsequently filed multiple complaints against Zubair, accusing him of causing cyber sexual harassment of his grand-daughter. In the FIR lodged in Delhi, offences under the POCSO Act, Section 509B of IPC, Sections 67 and 67A of the Information Technology Act were invoked against Zubair.

Thereafter the Delhi Police in May last year informed the court that no cognizable offence was made out against Zubair. However, NCPCR later argued that the information provided by Police in its status report shows that Zubair has been trying to evade the investigation and was not fully cooperating.

Thereafter, Zubair was granted interim protection from arrest on September 9, 2020 by Justice Yogesh Khanna. The court had also directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cyber Cell to file a status report on the investigation carried out in this case. It had also directed Twitter India to expedite the request filed by the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police.

Zubair had been in the crosshairs of the present regime over the controversial remarks of former BJP spokesperson, Nupur Sharma. Over that he had faced incarceration.

Supreme Court orders release of Mohammed Zubair on interim bail in all UP Police FIRs

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Alt New denies allegations of foreign funding

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 13:21:10 +0000

Image Courtesy: newsroompost.com

Fact-checking website Alt News issued a statement on July 4, 2022 denying any receipt of foreign funds following allegations against it and its parent organisation Pravda Media Foundation. The clarification came shortly after the Delhi police accused Alt News Co-Founder Mohammed Zubair of receiving foreign donations amounting to ₹ 2 lakh.

On June 27, Zubair was arrested for allegedly promoting enmity between groups and hurting religious sentiments via a 2018 tweet. He was sent to four days of police custody when on July 2, the Delhi police further accused him of receiving donations from Pakistan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The Delhi court then denied bail to Zubair and sent him to 14 days’ judicial custody.

Two days after this, Alt News issued a statement that its payment platform does not allow receipt of foreign donations.

“All of this is an attempt to shut down the very critical work that we do, and we will fight this attempt to shut us down and come out on top,” said Alt News.

The statements called all allegations categorically false. It said the organisation has only received donations via Indian bank accounts and the donated amount goes to the organisation’s account.

“The allegation that individuals associated with the organisation have received funds in their personal accounts is also false since the individuals associated with the organisation only get monthly remuneration,” said Alt News.

Shortly afterwards, it posted another update that said their payment platform RazorPay had disabled their account. By Tuesday, the payment platform said that it had temporarily disabled their account on receiving a request from police authorities and had re-activated the same after “getting some clarity.” However, as per an updated Alt News statement, RazorPay handed over donor data to the police without informing the organisation.

In keeping with government regulations, donation forms ask for a person’s email address, phone number, PAN card number, address. Regarding the whole incident, Alt News said it will be shifting to a new payment platform.

Our statement on Razorpay: pic.twitter.com/8tO4xusQS8

— Alt News (@AltNews) July 5, 2022

Over the week or so since Zubair’s arrest both the organisation and the journalist received overwhelming support. About 150 concerned citizens gave out a statement on July 1 demanding his immediate release.

“It is ironical that on the same day as Mr. Zubair’s arrest, India along with G7 countries, signed the ‘2022 Resilient Democracies Statement’, wherein the Indian government committed to “guarding the freedom, independence and diversity of civil society actors” and “protecting the freedom of expression and opinion online and offline”,” said the statement.

On June 30, The Hindu ex-Editor in Chief wrote an article against Zubair’s “laughable charges”. Similarly, the Press Club of India too condemned the arrest.

On AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair’s arrest on laughable charges: Read this editorial in The Hindu, June 30, 2022: https://t.co/4M7f6wpZaG pic.twitter.com/7re7vrY6ic

— N. Ram (@nramind) July 1, 2022

The Press Club of India demands that Muhammad Zubair be released by the Delhi Police pic.twitter.com/e9I9D1tMjd

— Press Club of India (@PCITweets) June 28, 2022

Organised by @VSuresh_Rights of @PUCLindia @JayaramArappor to protest the arrests of @zoo_bear @TeestaSetalvad DGP Sreekumar and Sanjeev Bhatt today. Was wonderful to participate and thanks to @s_kanth for spreading awareness about this event. #IStandWithZubair pic.twitter.com/mESfBHjK7v

— Wandering Alfie (@wanderingalfie) July 2, 2022

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Dainik Jagran fails to get injunction against Alt News

Wed, 03 Nov 2021 11:23:25 +0000

Image Courtesy: thewire.in

Dainik Jagran had filed a suit seeking injunction against fact-checking portal Alt News for an article dated May 30, published by the latter titled Dainik Jagran’s misleading reports portray mass burials in Prayagraj haven’t risen due to Covid. Dainik Jagran alleged that the article carries “false, incorrect, disparaging and scandalous statements” attributing knowledge and complicity on its part to the mass burials.

The original article about mass burials published by Dainik Jagran which was criticised by Alt News, had claimed that the mass burials at the Shringverpur ghat was a regular feature, and not only due to Covid deaths. Dainik Jagran submitted to the court that this was based on facts, and with no intention to sensationalise or refute the fact of Covid deaths. Dainik Jagran submitted that the Alt News article claimed that it received government ads worth over Rs 100 crore in 2014-15 to 2018-19, and was the highest recipient of government ad revenues. The Alt News article had also claimed, “The reports by Dainik Jagran do not corroborate with the ground reality and in fact, are an attempt to normalise the recent deaths caused due to mismanagement and government apathy.”

The defendants, Alt News, submitted that Dainik Jagran’s plea is violative of freedom of press under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and is a SLAPP suit i.e ‘strategic lawsuit against public participation’.

The court examined if there is even the slightest veracity in the claim of defendants that what they published is true, and based on extensive research and ground reports, the court found that the article shows that the defendants have based the contents of the article on various interviews and research.

“Whether they finally succeed in proving their defence or not is a matter of trial and cannot be determined at this stage. In such a case, where the defence of truth taken by the defendants may stand a chance to succeed at trial, there is no reason for the Court to intervene at such an initial stage and stifle the ever-widening contours of free speech, as developed by the Higher Courts,” observed the court.

“Freedom of speech becomes all the more significant when the subject matter is a matter of larger public concern,” the court added.

The court cited Tata sons Ltd. v Greenpeace International & Anr, 2011 SCC Online Del 466 where the court had held that an interim injunction should not be awarded unless a defence of justification by the defendant was certain to fail at trial level.

The court, thus, dismissed the plaintiff’s application seeking interim injunction against Alt News while holding that there is no certainty that defendant’s defence would fail at trial and there is an equal chance that the defendants may succeed in proving the same.

The order may be read here:

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Alt-News co-founder granted protection from arrest in Tweet related case

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 14:06:10 +0000

Image Courtesy:theleaflet.in

The Delhi High Court has passed an interim order granting protection from arrest to Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of Alt News, in a petition for quashing of the FIR against him. A single judge bench of Justice Yogesh Khanna has directed the Delhi government and the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cyber Cell to file a status report on the investigation carried out in the case, within 8 weeks, as reported by LiveLaw.

Zubair had filed a petition for quashing of FIR lodged against him by a twitter user, Jagdish Singh. Zubair had posted a tweet with the profile picture of Singh standing with his minor grand-daughter, asking if it was appropriate for Singh to use derogatory language in replies even as his grand-daughter figures in his profile picture. Zubair had, however, blurred the face of Singh’s minor grand-daughter, while sharing the picture.

Singh had allegedly been posting comments on Zubair’s tweets, using abusive and derogatory language. In one such uninvited comments, Singh had written, “Once a jihadi always a jihadi” on a post of Zubair where he was wearing an Indian attire.

Singh then filed two FIRs accusing Zubair of cyber sexual harassment of his minor grand-daughter were lodged at Delhi and at Chhattisgarh, under section 509B [Sexual harassment by electronic modes] of the IPC and section 67 [Punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form] and 67A [Punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act in electronic form] of the Information Technology Act.

Additionally, in cognizance of this frivolous complaint, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) summoned Twitter India in order to take action against Zubair for posting the tweet.

Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves appeared for Zubair and submitted that he was not even provided with the copies of the FIRs. He further submitted that Zubair, through Alt-news, debunks misinformation that is circulated on social media, without any bias and owing to the nature of his work, he usually faces abuse and threats from blind supporters.

Gonsalves further alleged that the complainant, Singh, is in fact a ‘serious harasser’ who attacks people with liberal and progressive views. He also denied even a remotest possibility that Zubair’s tweet could qualify as sexual harassment of a minor.

The court also directed NCPCR to file a reply on the averments made in Zubair’s petition while also directing Twitter India to supply the Cyber Cell with the information they have sought on a third person who has made objectionable comments on Singh and his grand-daughter to check if there is any connection with Zubair.

The case will be next heard on December 8, and until then Zubair is protected from any coercive action.

The complete order may be read here.

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Two FIRs against AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair for ‘online harassment’ of minor girl

Tue, 08 Sep 2020 08:12:32 +0000

The Cyber Cell of the Delhi Police has registered an FIR against fact-check website AltNews co-founder, Mohammed Zubair, for allegedly ‘threatening and torturing a girl child through Twitter’, officials announced on Sunday. Zubair has refuted the allegation as ‘an absolutely frivolous complaint’

Are the FIRS filed against Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking site AltNews, as one more instance of the brazen targeting of a journalist whose work involves the job of debunking the reams of fake news and inflammatory propaganda that fills up our social media feeds and WhatsApp chats in India? It would appear so.

The online journalist, Zubair has been booked in two police cases, one in Delhi and another in Raipur, under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Information Technology Act for allegedly harassing and torturing a minor girl online. Reports suggest that the cases came after the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, upon receiving a complaint, wrote to the police to initiate action against Zubair.

What is the charge? A Twitter user, Jagdish Singh using the handle @JSINGH2252, had responded to one of Zubair’s posts with an abusive message. Zubair replied by pointing out that Singh’s display picture on Twitter featured a little girl, saying, “Does your cute grand daughter know about your part time job of abusing people on social media? I suggest you to change your profile pic.” In his post, Zubair had blurred the image of the minor.

The journalist, Zubair has termed the cases “frivolous” and said he will respond to them legally. AltNews, has meanwhile, put out a statement saying that this is an attempt to “hound” co-founder of Alt News, Mohammed Zubair, through misuse of legal apparatus.”

The facts of the matter are plain for all to see.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, a statutory body that is supposed to hold all institutions including the government to account, has made it to the news over the last few months for asking authorities to even identify young children with their mothers at the Shaheen Bagh protests in Delhi because they are “likely to be suffering from mental trauma”. The iconic protests were against the ignominious Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 and proposed National Register of Citizens NRC) and National Population Register (NPR). However the same NCPCR has not found the police brutalities, interrogation and detention of minors, an issue of concern. Nor have the recent multiple cases of child rape in Uttar Pradesh drawn its attention.

Arguably, if Zubair can be accused under those sections of the law pertaining to harassing and torturing a minor girl online, the very same charge can be laid at the feet of “Jagdish Singh”, who chose to post profane Twitter messages with an un-blurred photograph of the minor. Wouldn’t that be a cause for “mental trauma” to the child, as the commission sees it?

This appears one more instance of the failure of statutory institutions to take on abusive users on social media if they favour the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party or their parent or fraternal outfits like the RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and the like. The focus is clearly on those who highlight these abuses – in this case leading to evidently untenable charges against a journalist who frequently calls out the BJP’s IT cell.

There have also been serious questions raised of the higher courts and lower judiciary in protecting fundamental rights and Constitutional morality. In law, it is incumbent upon the magistrates and judges that oversee matters like this to apply their mind and ensure that journalists like Zubair are not hounded by authorities for simply doing their jobs.

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