A Delhi Magistrate on Tuesday sent Mohammed Zubair to four days of police custody in the case against him for hurting religious sentiments. The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria of the Patiala House Court was hearing the bail application of Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of propagandist portal Alt News, who was arrested on June 27 by the Delhi Police under Section 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and 295 (intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code.
[BREAKING] Mohammed Zubair remanded to four days police custody. #MohammedZubair #AltNews #DelhiPolice
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) June 28, 2022
The honourable Court has granted police custody to allow police to recover his laptop and phone from Bangalore, which were purportedly used to post the tweet in question.
Court has granted police custody to allow police recover his laptop and phone from Bangalore, which was purportedly used to post the tweet in question. #MohammedZubair #AltNews #DelhiPolice
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) June 28, 2022
The police had sought five-day custody of Zubair noting that the latter had not co-operated with the authorities in the investigation. Zubair was arrested yesterday (June 27) as a result of his refusal to hand over the electronic devices he used to post the inflammatory tweet in 2018. Zubair claimed that he misplaced the phone he used in 2018, and he had formatted his phone as per Delhi Police.
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.
Today (June 28), Zubair was produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria of the Patiala House Court on the expiry of his one-day custodial interrogation. Senior Advocate Vrinda Grover had represented Zubair in the case.
Grover, fighting for his bail, argued before the Delhi magistrate court that since he is a fact-checker and journalist and regularly calls out people who post fake news and videos, he is not liked by a lot of people.
Advocate Vrinda Grover, arguing for Zubair’s bail, told the court that the police were ‘abusing its power.’ “Today, my laptop and phone are a storehouse of my personal information. They want my laptop because I am a journalist. Our laptops contain sensitive information. A fishing enquiry begins when the laptop is seized. That tweet cannot withstand any legal scrutiny. I have been challenging people who are speaking certain things. Will that deprive me of my liberty?” Grover told the magistrate court.
She further argued that the ‘journalist’ had tweeted a screenshot from a 1983 movie cleared by the censor board. “Many have tweeted the same, the only difference between those handles and mine is my faith, my name and my profession,” lawyer Vrinda Grover said, inferring that Zubair was being targeted since he is a Muslim and a journalist.
Grover: My client is being targeted for his work. He may be challenging people who are powerful but that can’t be a reason for his harassment.#MohammedZubair #AltNews #DelhiPolice
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) June 28, 2022
Meanwhile, rebutting Vrinda Grover’s arguments presented in Zubair’s defence, the prosecution said, “Ye trend banaya hua hai ki famous hone ke liye religious outrage karte hain. They outrage feelings of Hindu religion“, the prosecution said.
The prosecution further contended that Zubair had not only deleted all applications from his mobile phone but also threatened the investigating officer. “His parents have laptops from which data has been deleted, he said. He came with a blank phone,” said the prosecutor.
Public Prosecutor: His deliberate act is there on record which is outraging religious sentiments. He is not an anonymous complainant. His details are there.#MohammedZubair #AltNews #DelhiPolice
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) June 28, 2022
The prosecution further argued that Zubair’s deliberate act is there on record which is outraging the religious sentiments.
Further arguing in favour of Zubair’s remand, the prosecution said, “He is not an anonymous complainant. We have his details. We have to recover those laptops and instruments using which he posted these posts. There is a requirement for his police remand. This is the first time it came to our knowledge that these posts were posted by him.”
After hearing both sides of the argument, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria of the Patiala House Court granted 4 days of police custody of Mohammed Zubair.
