In September 2022, the Delhi Police filed a status report opposing the petition of AltNews out-on-bail co-founder Mohammed Zubair wherein he sought the return of devices and documents seized by the cops during the investigation of the case against him. The Delhi police argued that the seized items are being analysed at the Forensic Science Laboratory in Rohini and that Zubair can approach the lower court for their release after the competition of the analysis.
It further added that attempts are underway to recover and analyse data from the devices seized by the cops from the Bengaluru residence of AltNews co-founder. The cops pointed out that Zubair’s 2018 tweet was sufficient to incite hatred among people, resulting in a disturbance to peace and tranquillity in society.
The police had, at the time, said that Zubair had remained uncooperative during the interrogation and also revealed that he had asked his parents to destroy his devices if he ever got arrested.
In its affidavit, the Delhi police said, “That, during Police Custody remand, one laptop, two invoices and one hard disk have been recovered from the residence (Bangalore) of accused Mohd Zubair on the basis of disclosure statement which is admissible under Section 27 of Indian Evidence Act, which is to be looked upon at the time of trial.” “Quashing/ setting aside PC orders by Ld. CMM/ Patiala House Court will make the recovery inadmissible,” it continued.
The Police have also submitted that Zubair tried to mislead the investigation and provided different answers to the same question on repeated queries.
“He disclosed that he is co-founder of Alt News and in order to gain popularity he posts such contents/ post that triggers religious sentiment and he remains trending in news/ social media,” the affidavit added.
Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of AltNews, has now filed an affidavit in response to the Delhi Police’s status report, that opposed the return of devices to Zubair. In his affidavit, the main of Zubair seems to be to claim that any evidence that is collected from any of his devices would be ‘inadmissible’ since the search was illegal. This would mean that even if the police found evidence that implicates Zubair in his devices, according to Zubair’s contention, the devices were seized illegally and therefore, the evidence can’t be used against him.
In the petition, Zubair denies making any statements to the police and claims that the police simply concocted the statements being attributed to him. He also says that since those statements were relied upon to perform a search of his residence, from where the devices were found, any evidence should be considered inadmissible.
Zubair contended that he had never told the police that the device he used to post the communally sensitive tweet in 2018 was at his residence. He claims that he lost the device and a police complaint was filed about the lost device in 2021. He also denies making the statement that he tweeted communally sensitive tweets to gain popularity.
In his affidavit, Zubair seems to be denying making statements to the police and thus, using this denial, seems to be telling the court that his mobile and laptop were seized illegally by the police. It is pertinent to note that the Police had already told the court that Zubair was uncooperative during the interrogation and kept giving contradictory statements to mislead the police’s investigation.
Claiming that these statements were “concocted by the police while he was in custody without his knowledge”, Zubair in his affidavit says that any evidence that has been seized against him cannot be used in court.
If the court buys the contention of Mohammed Zubair, then in effect, all the evidence that the police may have collected against him from his electronic devices would be inadmissible in court and therefore, unusable by the police against Zubair.
The background of the case against AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair
On 13 June 2022, Twitter user ‘The Hawk Eye’ (@thehawkeye) shared a collage of past tweets and posts by Mohammed Zubair, mocking Hindu Gods and beliefs. The development came days after India witnessed violent protests over the alleged insult of Prophet Muhammad.
In one of the tweets shared by The Hawk Eye, Zubair was seen mocking Shivling and comparing it with the top view of the Vatican City. He said the post comparing Shivling with the Vatican City inspired him to come up with a parody Facebook page ‘Unofficial: Subramanian Swamy’ in 2014.
Apparently, one of the posts on the Facebook page ‘Unofficial Mohammed Zubair‘ mocked Arun Govil and took a dig at Lord Ram, suggesting that ISRO must consult the actor for his knowledge about rocketry.
Another post showed an aeroplane under the water with the caption: “Breaking: Underwater Pushpak Vimana used by Raavan 5000 years found in the Indian Ocean.” Besides ridiculing Hindu Gods, Zubair has also poked fun at Hindu beliefs and took a dig at Sanskrit.
As his Hinduphobic posts started getting traction,the AltNews co-founder quietly pulled down his Facebook page. On June 27, Mohammed Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police over his old tweets, insulting Hindu Gods and Goddesses. He was arrested under Section 153 and 295A of the Indian Penal Code.
Additional IPC Sections, including 295A, 201, and 120B of the IPC, as well as Section 35 of the FCRA Act, were invoked against him as the case proceeded. Mohammed Zubair filed a petition with the Supreme Court, seeking the dismissal of the six FIRs filed against him in Uttar Pradesh.
The plea filed by him challenged the FIRs recorded in Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, and two in Hathras. and the formation of the SIT by the Uttar Pradesh Police. He was later granted bail by the Supreme Court of India.
