On June 27, the co-founder of Alt News, Mohammed Zubair, was arrested by Delhi Police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. He was sent to one-day Police custody and will be presented in the court once the custody period is over. OpIndia accessed the FIR copy filed against Zubair at IFSO/Special Cell.
The FIR was registered on June 20 based on the complaint filed by Sub Inspector Arun Kumar, who is posted at IFSO/Special Cell, Dwarka, New Delhi. In the complaint, SI Arun Kumar said while social media monitoring on June 20 at IFSO/Special Cell, Dwarka, New Delhi as an Emergency Officer, he noticed Twitter user balajikijaiin’s tweet where he had requested Delhi Police to take action against Zubair.
Kumar said, “These words and the picture found to be used by Mohammed Zubair @zoo_bear against a particular religious community and are highly provocative and more than sufficient to incite feelings of hatred amongst people which can be detrimental for maintenance of public tranquillity in the society. Transmission and publication of such posts have been deliberately done by Mohammed Zubair @zoo_bear through electronic media to insult the religious feelings of a particular community with the intent to provoke breach of the peace which attracts offence under section 153A/295 IPC and hence from the contents of above-mentioned post from the Twitter handle (Mohammed Zubair @zoo_bear), offence U/s 153A/295 IPC is made out.”
Based on the complaint, FIR was registered under Sections 295 and 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). SI Arun Kumar also requested in the complaint to mark the investigation to him.
The arrest of Mohammed Zubair
On June 28, Mohammed Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police for hurting religious sentiments via social media posts. He was booked under Sections 153A and 295 of the Indian Penal Code. The FIR was based on a tweet by Twitter user @balajikijaiin where he had shared a screenshot of an old tweet by Zubair in which he had mocked Lord Hanuman. In the tweet, @balajikijaiin had asked Delhi Police to take action against Zubair for hurting the sentiments of Hindus with his derogatory post against Lord Hanuman.
