Details about the FIR filed against Zubair

It is to be noted that the FIR was filed two days after protests against Narsinghanand for making anti-Islamic comments against Prophet Mohammad had taken place at the Dasna temple, where Narsinghanand serves as the head priest. Tyagi, in her complaint, had accused Zubair of sharing edited video clips of Narsinghanand’s speeches on social media, allegedly to provoke violence by Muslims against the priest. She claimed that Zubair posted a video from an old program of Narsinghanand on October 3, which, she said, was aimed at stirring unrest. According to Tyagi, Zubair’s posts on October 4 and 5 escalated tensions and nearly led to an attack on the Dasna temple. Tyagi also stated that she was present with Narsinghanand at the temple during the alleged attack and that they barely escaped due to police intervention. It is to be pointed that a total of ten people have been arrested by the police after the protest allegedly turned violent.

“He posted a series of videos on October 4 and 5, leading to an attempt to ‘attack’ the Dasna Devi temple. I was present with Yati at the temple and we barely escaped. Had the police not intervened, the situation would have gotten out of hand,” Tyagi alleged in her complaint, as per Times of India.

As per a report of Indian Express, Tyagi further alleged in her complaint that Zubair’s posts included derogatory references to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, BJP MLA Nand Kishore Gurjar, and herself. As a result, she claimed to have received death threats on social media. The FIR against Zubair has been filed under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including promoting enmity between religious groups, fabricating false evidence, criminal intimidation, and defamation. The Times of India report has stated that Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra confirmed that an investigation is underway and assured that action would be taken against those using social media to incite violence.

In response to the FIR, Zubair expressed disappointment and claimed that the Ghaziabad Police registered the complaint without proper verification. Speaking to The Indian Express, Zubair noted that other journalists had reported similar content, yet he was singled out, suggesting that the FIR against him was intentional. Notably, apart from Zubair, the FIR also names AIMIM leader and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, as well as prominent Muslim cleric Arshad Madni.

“It is unfortunate,” said Zubair, while talking to The IE.

As expected. FIR registered against me. https://t.co/KeGQnI2G5y

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) October 7, 2024

On October 7, members of Hindu groups had also submitted a memorandum to the Ghaziabad Police Commissioner, demanding action against those they alleged had attacked the Dasna temple during the protest on October 6.

Brief about the Yati Narsinghanand controversy

Yati Narsinghanand, the head priest of the Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad, has been at the centre of multiple controversies due to his inflammatory remarks, particularly against the Muslim community. He is known to be a habitual hate offender. The present issue erupted due to one of Narsinghanand’s speeches, which was delivered on September 19 at an event in Hindi Bhavan in Ghaziabad. As per reports, Narsinghanand made derogatory statements and blasphemous remarks against Prophet Muhammad during his hate speech. In a provocative statement, he encouraged people to burn effigies of the Prophet instead of Ravana, a comment that led to widespread anger among the Muslim community.

Muslim organizations across the country have been calling for Narsinghanand’s arrest, citing his repeated hate speech and efforts to incite communal violence. Narsinghanand’s inflammatory remarks led to protests outside the Dasna temple on October 6, with a large crowd gathering to express their outrage. Following the protest, security around the temple was significantly increased. Multiple FIRs were filed against Narsinghanand, including in Ghaziabad, Telangana, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, and other states. Section 302 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with the offence of uttering words or making sounds to intentionally hurt someone’s religious feelings, has been invoked against Narsinghanand. Section 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), and Section 197 (acts that harm national integration) have also been included in the FIR.

Hyderabad police lodged a complaint after AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi urged authorities to take action and demanded social media platforms remove the hate speech. Despite the growing number of complaints, police have not confirmed whether Narsinghanand has been detained, though several reports, including those The Indian Express, suggest he may have been taken into custody.

Several of Narsinghanand’s disciples, including Anil Yadav Chota Narsimhanand, Yati Ran Singhanand, Yati Ram Swaroopanand, and Yati Nirbhayanand of the Dasna temple, have also been implicated in making objectionable remarks. These comments were captured on video and circulated online, leading to an additional FIR being filed at the Wave City police station under Sections 302 (punishment for intentionally hurting someone’s religious feelings) and 351 (criminal intimidation) of the BNS. While the outrage over Narsinghanand’s statements continues to spread, demands for his arrest remain unmet, despite mounting pressure from several state governments and religious organizations.

Related:

Yati Narsinghanand booked for comments on former president

Supreme Court issues notice in contempt charges against Hindutva leader Yati Narsinghanand

UP: Yati Narsinghanand delivered provocative anti-Muslim hate speech, invoked Love-Jihad, temple demolition

Yati Narsinghanand calls for unity of the world to destroy Islam

The post FIR against Alt News Co-founder Mohammed Zubair based on complaint by BJP leader Udita Tyagi, action on his social media posts sought appeared first on SabrangIndia.

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. 

Related:

‘Vicious cycle’ against Mohammed Zubair: SC
BJP’s Manjinder Singh Sirsa files police complaint against Mohammed Zubair
 Allahabad HC refuses to quash FIR against Alt News Founder Mohammed Zubair
How are religious sentiments hurt when blatant hate speech is exposed by a journalist?

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“Public figures” no longer different between exchange of ideas and sharp words. In ‘new’ India, debate has descended to mud-slinging, slur and abuse. Hence.making Islamophobic comments while promoting stereotypes against a minority community fits well with this trend for favoured fim-maker of the New Delhi regime, Vivek Agnihotri.

Not so far back, Vivek Agnihotri used a public platform to stigmatise Muslims, again.

A few days ago, Vivek Agnihotri’s had posted the news that his film, alleged by many to reflect one-sided propaganda. The Kashmir Files, had won the Best Film Award at the Dada Saheb Phalke Award 2023. He had added that he dedicates this award to “all the victims of terrorism, and to all the people of India for your blessings.”

Since the release of The Kashmir Files on March 11, 2022, while right wing supporters and audiences had cheered the release, others –including Kashmiri Pandit organization Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh samite (KPSS) had sharply criticised the movie for exaggerating facts, sparking undue controversy, and show-casing all Muslim Kashmiris in a bad light. Eyebrows were raised therefore when Agnihotri tweeted the news that his movie was awarded the coveted Dada Sahab Phalke award.

Mohammed Zubair, from the of the fact checking website, Alt News then tweeted a fact-check on the same and clarified that Agnihotri’s tweet regarding winning the prestigious government award was misleading as his movie had won an award at a festival named after Phalke, and not theprestigious DadaSaheb Phalke award.

Md. Zubair had also tweeted a picture of a post put up by Agnihotri, wherein he had said that Fact checking is the biggest media extortion, and is run by terror organisations. Referring to this same, MD. Zubair had captioned his tweet as “this is Mr. Vivek Agnihotri hates fact checkers.”

Another fact checking site had also posted a similar clarification about the film and the award!

Offended by the tweets mentioned above, Vivek Agnihotri then tweeted “No, my dear… I don’t hate fact-checkers, I hate when puncture repairers pretend to be fact checkers. Because you are nothing but just a jehadi pimp of India’s enemies & I know very well who is behind you. हरज़िहादीकावक़्तआताहैऔरतेरावक़्तजल्दीआनेवालाहै, संभलकेरहो” (The time for every ‘Jehadi’ comes, and your time is coming soon, be careful.)

The term ‘Puncture Repairers’ is a derogatory term used for the Muslim Community, used in order to depict that most of the Muslims are illiterates and thus, open their puncture repair shops. The term ‘jehadi’ is used by the right wingers too loosely nowadays, with the aim of projecting them as an enemy of the nation.

To this, Zubair had replied by tweeting “Words like “Jihadi” or “Puncture wala” against Muslims were earlier used by faceless Right Wing trolls. It is now openly being used by Verified trolls like Agnihotri.” Through this tweet, Zubair had brought forth the sense of impunity that is present in people backed up the Right wing, so much so that they are now openly using terms that are derogatory to a minority community. But, even this did not deter Vivek Agnihotri from riding the communal high horse, and he further posted a picture of a Puncture repair shop whose owner name was also written ad Mohammed Zubair. He had captioned the tweet as “please fact-check this.” To this, Zubair tweeted that “Most of your fake and communally misleading claims are punctured here.”

While Zubair’s reply might appear amusing to some, owing to the thick-skin he has had to develop in order to be able to do his work, this incident brings out how people now have no sense of fear before openly saying derogatory words on public platforms. Demeaning language is now used by leaders and faces of the Right wing, with no fear of any consequence or backlash.

The right-wing Hindu nationalist, read supremacists group openly espouse a violent sentiment toward liberals and minorities – including India’s 200 million Muslims, who make up 15% of the country’s 1.3 billion population. Even though India prohibits hate speech under several sections of its penal code, including a section which criminalises “deliberate and malicious acts” intended to insult religious beliefs, the government’s silence has only emboldened these the supports of the Right Wing further.

On the one hand, the members and supporters of the Right Wing are being given a free hand at “expressing” their beliefs and opinions, most of which are targeted against the gender, religious and caste minorities, people protesting against the Government or support Left inclined ideology are illegally jailed or their words banned.

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Anti-CAA stir, Assam: SC protects independent Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi from arrest

The post In his Twitter exchange with a journalist, Vivek Agnihotri makes Islamophobic remarks about Muslims appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The post No criminality in journalist, Mohd Zubair’s tweet says Delhi Police to High Court appeared first on SabrangIndia.

New Delhi: BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa has filed a police complaint against fact checker and co-founder of Alt News website Mohammed Zubair, accusing him of “spreading hate” against cricketer Arshdeep Singh and the Sikh community with his tweet.

The player became a victim of vicious trolling on social media after he dropped a catch during India’s five-wicket loss to arch-rival Pakistan in the Super four match of the Asia Cup in Dubai on Sunday.

In his complaint filed at the Parliament Street police station, Sirsa cited a tweet by Zubair where he had shared screenshots of tweets against Singh posted on various handles.

The BJP leader claimed that most of these tweets were from ”Pakistani accounts” and alleged that Zubair had acted at the behest of “anti-national elements”.

He demanded that an FIR be filed against him and an investigation launched to unearth the conspiracy.

“Mohammed Zubair acting in connivance with anti-national elements across the border has cleverly taken screenshots from Twitter of various Twitter handles after searching with the word- Khalistani and has then posted a tweet at 00:05 hours on September 5, 2022 combining all these tweets,” he alleged.

Sirsa alleged that Zubair was “trying to portray that such abusive and malicious tweets were posted by Indian Twitter handles, whereas the reality is that most of these Twitter accounts are Pakistani accounts”.

He claimed some were created just for the purpose of this tweet, “‘the sole intention behind which was to spread hate against a nationalist and national level player who has given his heart and soul playing for the country and also against the entire Sikh community.”

Zubair was arrested on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through a tweet against a Hindu deity in 2018. He was in custody for 24 days on allegations of hate speech and is now out on bail.

Multiple FIRs were lodged against Zubair in Uttar Pradesh — two in Hathras and one each in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad and Chandauli.

He was released after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail, saying the “exercise of the power of arrest must be pursued sparingly”.

Courtesy: The Daily Siasat

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On July 20, 2022, the Supreme Court ordered the release of AltNews co-founder and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair, on interim bail in all UP police FIRs and directed the Tihar jail authorities to ensure that he is released before 6pm that day, subject to furnishing bail bonds, reported LiveLaw. The Court clubbed all the FIRs and said that the case should be handled by one investigating authority i.e. Special Cell of Delhi Police.

A bench comprising of Justice DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and AS Bopanna observed that existence of power of arrest must be pursued sparingly by the Police. The bench disbanded the Special Investigation team (SIT) formed by Uttar Pradesh and held that there was no justification to keep him in continued custody in connection with six cases filed against him in the state for allegedly hurting religious sentiments with Twitter posts.

The Court reportedly stated, “Essentially, the gravamen of the FIRs pertain to the tweets. Having regard to the fact that the petitioner has been subjected to comprehensive investigation by the Delhi Police, we find no reason for his deprivation of personal liberty to sustain.”

Refusing to impose a bail condition on him to prevent him from tweeting again, Justice Chandrachud reportedly told the Additional Advocate General of UP, “We can’t say that he won’t tweet again. It is like telling a lawyer that you should not argue. How can we tell a journalist that he will not write?… ..If there is any tweets against law, he will be answerable. How can be pass any anticipatory order that someone will not speak…”

With respect to all future FIRs that may be registered against him on the basis of his tweets, the Court ordered, “FIR which may be registered against petitioner hereafter on the subject matter, in which event, the investigation of the FIR shall stand transferred to Delhi Police & he will be entitled to bail.” It further stated that Zubair would be liberty to seek quashing of the FIRs before the Delhi High Court.

Zubair was first arrested by the Delhi police on June 27 over a tweet posted by him in 2018 and was later remanded in the other FIRs registered by the UP Police. Zubair was charged under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity), 295A (acts to outrage religious feelings), and 298 (uttering words to wound religious feelings), along with section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material) of the Information Technology Act.

On July 8, Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari granted him interim bail in the Sitapur case under the condition that he will not will not post any further tweets. They made it clear that the court had not stayed the investigation in the FIR and that interim relief does not apply to any other pending case.

On July 12, 2022, the Supreme Court extended the five days interim bail granted to him in the case where he had called three religious leaders “hate mongers” (Sitapur case). A bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud granted the state government four weeks to file its counter. The authorities charged the fact-checking website head for deliberate and malicious acts, intent to outrage religious feelings and promote enmity between different religious groups.

On July 15, 2022, a Delhi Court granted bail to Muhammad Zubair in a case related to 2018 tweet that allegedly hurt religious sentiments and promoted enmity.

On July 18, the Supreme Court had directed the Uttar Pradesh Police to not take any precipitative action against Alt-News Co-founder and Fact-checker Mohammed Zubair in connection with the 5 First Information Reports (FIR) registered against him over his tweets till July 20.

Separate FIRs have been lodged against Zubair in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, and Hathras districts on charges of allegedly hurting religious feelings, making sarcastic remarks on news anchors, disrespecting Hindu gods, and inflammatory posts.

Yesterday, Advocate Vrinda Grover appearing for Zubair argued that none of the tweets remotely used language which is improper of which amount to criminal offence and therefore, it was a clear case of silencing the fact checker invoking criminal offence with multiple FIRs. She reportedly stated, “In this age of digital age, the job of someone who is debunking false information may draw the ire of others. But the law cannot be weaponised against him…The dormant FIRs are activated the moment I secure bail in any case. Dormant FIR gets suddenly activated. That is why I say there is more than meets the eye. There is a scenario of encircling me.”

On the other hand, UP AAG Garima Prashad reportedly contended, “He calls himself a fact-checker. Under the guise of fact checking, he is promoting malicious and provocative content. And he gets paid for the tweets. More malicious the tweets, more payment he gets. He has admitted. He has got over Rs 2 crores. He is no journalist.” She further alleged that instead of informing the police of illegal speech or hatred, Zubair has been taking advantage of speeches and videos which have the potential of creating a communal divide and he has been sharing them repeatedly,” reported LiveLaw.

Arguments made in favour of Zubair:

Advocate Grover reportedly stated, “He is pointing out as a fact checker that the picture of mosque used in a graphic of Sudarshan TV is wrong mosque. And I tag the police saying hope they will take action. Who is actually inciting? The graphic shared by Sudarshan TV channel. I as a fact checker place the actual image of Gaza bombing and image of real mosque. Prima facie, there is no offence made out. And FIRs are lodged by correspondents by this very channel (Sudarshan).”

Speaking about the police remand, she further argued, “What kind of police remand application is this? They will take me into custody and take me to wherever they want to investigate tweets from 2014 to take into custody of all devices. Is this not a statutory abuse of the power of investigation? There are direct threats against him. There is a bounty announced for his head. He is lodged in Tihar jail and he is taken back and forth.”

“Why I am saying this is an orchestrated investigation? 14 days remand is sought for omnibus investigation. 91 notices issued to AltNews asking for our entire records, accounts by three police stations. Scope of investigation is no longer the same.”

Argument by UP Govt

The AAG argued that Zubair should have informed the police instead of sharing the videos and speeches repeatedly online. With respect to the Sitapur FIR, she reportedly submitted that the objectionable speeches made by Bajrang Muni did not gain attention until Zubair, on April 7, made the speech viral through his Twitter handle. He did not tag the Sitapur police in this tweet.

Copy of the order maybe read here: 

Related:

‘Vicious cycle’ against Mohammed Zubair: SC
Mohammed Zubair seeks urgent hearing before SC on his plea against FIRs
Muhammad Zubair gets bail in 2018 tweet case
Mohammad Zubair moves Supreme Court seeking to quash 6 FIRs filed in Uttar Pradesh
SC extends Alt News co-founder Zubair’s bail until further notice
SC grants interim bail to Mohammed Zubair
Medha Patkar and 11 others accused of “misuse of funds”
Alt New denies allegations of foreign funding

The post Supreme Court orders release of Mohammed Zubair on interim bail in all UP Police FIRs appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The post ‘Vicious cycle’ against Mohammed Zubair: SC appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On Monday, Alt News co-founder and fact checker Mohammed Zubair sought an urgent listing of his plea in the Supreme Court which sought to quash 6 FIRs lodged against him in several districts of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly outraging religious sentiments.

Mohammed Zubair’s lawyer Vrinda Grover reportedly submitted to the bench, headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana, that Zubair’s plea needed an urgent hearing as he has been facing a slew of FIRs. The plea has also challenged the constitution of the Special Investigation team (SIT) by the Uttar Pradesh government to probe the six cases, as all of them have been the subject matter of the FIR which is being probed by the Delhi Police.

The bench reportedly said, “List it before Justice DY Chandrachud. You can mention it before that bench.”

On July 15, 2022, a Delhi Court granted bail to Muhammad Zubair in a case related to 2018 tweet that allegedly hurt religious sentiments and promoted enmity. However, he still remains in judicial custody for two other cases filed in Uttar Pradesh. The Hathras Court remanded him to 14-day judicial custody, setting the next date of hearing on July 27.

Zubair has been charged under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity), 295A (acts to outrage religious feelings), and 298 (uttering words to wound religious feelings), along with section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material) of the Information Technology Act.

As per reports, Zubair was first arrested by the Delhi police on June 27 over a tweet posted by him in 2018 and was later remanded in the other FIRs registered by the UP Police.

On July 8, Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari granted him interim bail in the Sitapur case under the condition that he will not will not post any further tweets. They made it clear that the court had not stayed the investigation in the FIR and that interim relief does not apply to any other pending case.

On July 12, 2022, the Supreme Court extended the five days interim bail granted to him in the case where he had called three religious leaders “hate mongers” (Sitapur case). A bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud granted the state government four weeks to file its counter. The authorities charged the fact-checking website head for deliberate and malicious acts, intent to outrage religious feelings and promote enmity between different religious groups.

Separate FIRs have been lodged against Zubair in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, and Hathras districts on charges of allegedly hurting religious feelings, making sarcastic remarks on news anchors, disrespecting Hindu gods, and inflammatory posts.

Related:

Muhammad Zubair gets bail in 2018 tweet case

Mohammad Zubair moves Supreme Court seeking to quash 6 FIRs filed in Uttar Pradesh

SC extends Alt News co-founder Zubair’s bail until further notice

SC grants interim bail to Mohammed Zubair

Medha Patkar and 11 others accused of “misuse of funds”

Teesta Setalvad’s arrest shows how our rights are being trampled upon: Rights groups

Alt New denies allegations of foreign funding

The post Mohammed Zubair seeks urgent hearing before SC on his plea against FIRs appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On July 15, 2022, a Delhi Court granted bail to Alt News co-founder and fact Checker Muhammad Zubair in a case related to 2018 tweet that allegedly hurt religious sentiments and promoted enmity. However, he still remains in judicial custody for two other cases filed in Uttar Pradesh.

Additional sessions judge Devender Kumar Jangala, who had reserved the order on Thursday, July 14, granted bail to Zubair, reportedly observing that the Hindu religion and its followers were “tolerant”. The court also emphasised the importance of free speech and dissent in a democracy. The court underlined that neither Zubair’s four-year-old tweet, nor the image from a 39-year-old film he had attached to it, had generated any complaints before, and said his actions did not merit the charges unless done with “malice” or “guilty intention”, reported The Telegraph.

When the prosecution contended that the 2018 tweet by Zubair was an attack on the ruling political party, the court reportedly stated that Indian political parties were open to criticism, and it did not justify the invocation of penal sections such as IPC section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and section 295A (outraging religious feelings).

With respect to the prosecution’s argument of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) violations, the court held that Zubair had placed on record that only Indian citizens with Indian bank accounts can contribute to Alt News and that this was specifically mentioned on the website. Moreover, the court noted that the accused had taken all the safeguards to prevent the receipt of any foreign contributions, reported The Telegraph.

However, the Court has restricted Zubair from leaving the country without prior permission of the court and granted bail on a personal bail bond of Rs. 50,000.

Earlier this week, Zubair moved the Supreme Court seeking interim bail in all six cases and challenged the constitution of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) by the UP government to probe the cases. He has also sought clubbing of six FIRs with the FIR lodged in Delhi. On the same day, the Hathras Court remanded him to 14-day judicial custody, setting the next date of hearing on July 27.

Zubair has been charged under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity), 295A (acts to outrage religious feelings), and 298 (uttering words to wound religious feelings), along with section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material) of the Information Technology Act.

As per reports, Zubair was first arrested by the Delhi police on June 27 over a tweet posted by him in 2018 and was later remanded in the other FIRs registered by the UP Police.

On July 8, Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari granted him interim bail in the Sitapur case under the condition that he will not will not post any further tweets. They made it clear that the court had not stayed the investigation in the FIR and that interim relief does not apply to any other pending case.

On July 12, 2022, the Supreme Court extended the five days interim bail granted to him in the case where he had called three religious leaders “hate mongers” (Sitapur case). A bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud granted the state government four weeks to file its counter. The authorities charged the fact-checking website head for deliberate and malicious acts, intent to outrage religious feelings and promote enmity between different religious groups.

Separate FIRs have been lodged against Zubair in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, and Hathras districts on charges of allegedly hurting religious feelings, making sarcastic remarks on news anchors, disrespecting Hindu gods, and inflammatory posts, reported Zee News.

Related:

SC extends Alt News co-founder Zubair’s bail until further notice
Medha Patkar and 11 others accused of “misuse of funds”
SC grants interim bail to Mohammed Zubair
Teesta Setalvad’s arrest shows how our rights are being trampled upon: Rights groups
Alt New denies allegations of foreign funding

The post Muhammad Zubair gets bail in 2018 tweet case appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Fact-checker and AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair has moved the Supreme Court seeking to quash the six First Information Reports (FIR) registered against him by the Uttar Pradesh Police in several districts of the state over his tweets, reported LiveLaw.

In his plea, Zubair sought interim bail in all six cases and challenged the constitution of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) by the UP government to probe the cases. He has also sought clubbing of six FIRs with the FIR lodged in Delhi. Earlier on the same day, the Hathras Court remanded him to 14-day judicial custody, fixing the next date of hearing on July 27.

Zubair has been charged under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity), 295A (acts to outrage religious feelings), and 298 (uttering words to wound religious feelings), along with section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material) of the Information Technology Act.

As per reports, Zubair was first arrested by the Delhi police on June 27 over a tweet posted by him in 2018 and was later remanded in the other FIRs registered by the UP Police.

On July 8, Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari granted him interim bail in the Sitapur case under the condition that he will not will not post any further tweets. They made it clear that the court had not stayed the investigation in the FIR and that interim relief does not apply to any other pending case.

On July 12, 2022, the Supreme Court extended the five days interim bail granted to him in the case where he had called three religious leaders “hate mongerers” (Sitapur case). A bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud granted the state government four weeks to file its counter. The authorities charged the fact-checking website head for deliberate and malicious acts, intent to outrage religious feelings and promoting enmity between different religious groups.

Separate FIRs have been lodged against Zubair in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, and Hathras districts on charges of allegedly hurting religious feelings, making sarcastic remarks on news anchors, disrespecting Hindu gods, and inflammatory posts, reported Zee News.

Related:

SC extends Alt News co-founder Zubair’s bail until further notice
Medha Patkar and 11 others accused of “misuse of funds”
SC grants interim bail to Mohammed Zubair
Teesta Setalvad’s arrest shows how our rights are being trampled upon: Rights groups
Alt New denies allegations of foreign funding

The post Mohammad Zubair moves Supreme Court seeking to quash 6 FIRs filed in Uttar Pradesh appeared first on SabrangIndia.