Updated June 28th, 2022 at 18:18 IST
Delhi Court sends Mohammed Zubair, Co-Founder of Alt News, to 4-day police custody
A Delhi Magistrate remanded Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking website AltNews, to 4 days' police custody on Tuesday, June 28.
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A Delhi Magistrate granted remanded Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking website AltNews, to 4 days' police custody on Tuesday, June 28. Zubair was summoned for questioning with regards to an FIR filed against him on a complaint against his 2018 tweet, with a picture having the caption 'Before 2014: Honeymoon Hotel. After 2014: Hanuman Hotel', in what appeared to be a dig at the BJP coming to power in 2014.
The FIR noted, "These words and the picture found to be used by Muhammad Zubair against a particular religious community and are highly provocative and more than sufficient to incite a feeling of hatred amongst people which can be detrimental for the maintenance of public tranquillity in the society".
Zubair was booked under Sections 153A (promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) and 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)
Minutes of the proceeding
Before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria of the Patiala House Court, Senior Advocate Vrinda Grover appeared for Zubair. Grover argued that the submission that the AltNews co-founder or anyone else edited the image in question was baseless. Claiming that the image was from the Bollywood movie 'Kisi Se Na Kehna', Grover narrated the particular sequence of the movie, saying, "It shows a hotel named "Honeymoon Hotel" changing its name as "Hanuman Hotel".
"This image, today is shown as a reason for arresting someone, seeking remand, comes from a Hindi cinema. This image has been shared by many others. There are multiple Twitter handles which are applauding the fact that "honeymoon hotel" is made "hanuman hotel". Kindly see the tweets I have placed on record. The only difference between those handles and mine is my faith, my name and my profession," Grover said, adding that Zubair was being targeted because of challenging the 'people in power'.
The Prosecutor said, "A trend is going on, on Twitter that to increase their followers, they make objectionable remarks by targeting any religion or community. Zubair's job is to make only controversial statements. He has uploaded 4 more tweets, with edits of Mahabharata. We have to recover laptops and instruments from which it was posted. So there is a requirement for police remand."
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Published June 28th, 2022 at 17:54 IST
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