New Delhi: Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair was Monday arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments with a 2018 tweet.
According to sources, Zubair was arrested after a Twitter handle tagged the Delhi Police a week ago in his 2018 tweet on a Hindu mythological figure.
“Delhi Police has registered a case after getting a complaint from a twitter handle, wherein it was alleged that Mohammed Zubair had tweeted a questionable image with a purpose to deliberately insult the god of a particular religion,” DCP Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations, IFSO, KPS Malhotra said.
He added, “Such tweets were getting retweeted and it appeared that there is a brigade of social media entities, who indulge in insult mongering thereby leading to a possible ramification on communal harmony and are overall against the maintenance of public tranquility. He is being produced before the magistrate for seeking further PC (police custody) remand for the purpose of the investigation of the case.”
Zubair was booked under Indian Penal Code sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).
“In June, when Delhi Police was alerted by a Twitter handle that Mohammad Zubair had earlier made an objectionable tweet and his followers/social media entities had amplified and created a series of debates/hate mongering in the thread, he was examined in this case and his role was found objectionable. He was evasive on the questions and neither provided the necessary technical equipment for the purpose of the investigation nor cooperated in the investigation,” Malhotra added.
Meanwhile, another source said, “Zubair was first called in for questioning in a 2020 case. During investigation, the Delhi Police had given a status report, and his tweet wasn’t found objectionable. Whereas, subsequent tweets after this tweet led to a series of questionable and derogatory tweets. In the investigation of the 2020 case, he was earlier examined and the probe is on the verge of conclusion.”
The 2020 case pertains to a post by Zubair for which he was booked under sections of the POCSO Act and granted interim protection from arrest.
Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha also tweeted about the 2020 case.
Please note. pic.twitter.com/gMmassggbx
— Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) June 27, 2022
“The police were tagged on a 2018 tweet by Mohammed Zubair on the mythological figure a week ago. The police took cognisance of the tweet as it impacted communal harmony,” the first source said, adding that this doesn’t have an established relation to remarks made by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma on the Prophet Muhammad and the protests against it.
Zubair had highlighted Sharma’s controversial remark against the Prophet. He had subsequently deactivated his Facebook account following backlash over some old posts. Zubair’s Facebook account began showing the “deactivated” message on 13 June, the same day a Twitter user who goes by the moniker ‘The Hawk Eye’ posted a screenshot of his old posts, along with others, on Twitter.
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