FIR has been lodged in Uttar Pradesh against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair for blatantly hurting religious sentiments on Twitter by naming Mahant Bajrang Muni as ‘Udasin’ and Yati Narsinghanand and Swami Anand Swarup as the “hatemongers”.
Zubair, the left wing journalist and the co-founder of Alt News was arrested on June 27, at around 6.45pm. Zubair was called today by a special cell, Delhi for investigation in a 2020 case for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity under Section 153, 295 of the Indian Penal CDode.
On June 1, FIR was registered based on the complaint of Bhagwan Sharan against Alt News co-founder, district head of Rastriya Hindu Sher Sena, under sections 295(A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 67 ( punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, etc., in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 under the Khairabad police station in Sitapur district, Uttar Pradesh.
It was a result of a series of tweets on May 27 by Alt News co-founder Zubair. Not only in tweets, but also he slammed prime-time debates on Indian news television channels, which he said, “have become a platform to encourage hate mongers to speak ill about other religions” in connection with the ongoing controversy into the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi.
Zubair and the anchor of ‘The Gyanvapi Files’, Navika Kumar shared a video clip of a debate on the Times Now channel. Alt News co-founder Zubair tweeted, “Well done @vineetjaintimes! Why do we need Hate Mongers like Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati or Mahant Bajrang Muni or Anand Swaroop to arrange a Dharam Sansad to speak against a community and a Religion when we already have Anchors who can do a much better job from News Studios.”
In his petition before the Allahabad High Court, Alt News co-founder Zubair argued his innocence by saying that he had not “insulted or attempted to insult a religious belief of a class” with his tweet, Live Law reported. He demanded that the FIR should be taken back. The FIR was only lodged as an ulterior motive for harassing him.
Opposing his petition, the state counsel argued that Alt News co-founder Zubair is a habitual offender, who has four criminal cases registered against him. Hence, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad high court, today, refused to withdraw the FIR lodged against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair .
The bench relied upon the Supreme Court case of Neeharika Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. vs. State of Maharashtra and others (2021 SCC Online SC 315) wherein the court observed that though the court has the power to quash the FIR in suitable cases, the court, when it exercises power under Section 482 Cr.P.C., only has to consider whether or not the allegations in the FIR disclose the commission of a cognisable offence and is not required to consider the case on merit.
“He (Zubair) has intentionally tried to spread hatred in society and incite Muslims and hurt Hindu sentiments as part of a conspiracy. There is anger among us Hindus by such acts of his,” were the complaints in the FIR. The complaint also alleged that Alt News Zubair was “inciting Muslims to murder Hindu leaders”.
According to Pratik Sinha, another co-founder of Alt News – Delhi Police had allegedly summoned Zubair for questioning in a two-year-old POCSO case, but was subsequently arrested on a different charge of spreading communal disharmony. He tweeted that no FIR copy of the arrest is being given to them despite repeated requests.
Mohammed Zubair’s old Hinduphobic posts surface online
On 13 June 2022, days after India witnessed violent protests that saw Islamists running riot, indulging in violence over the alleged insult of Prophet Muhammad, Twitter user The Hawk Eye (@thehawkeye) shared a collage of past tweets and posts by Mohammed Zubair mocking Hindu Gods and beliefs.
In one of the tweets shared by The Hawk Eye, Zubair is 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‘ mocks Arun Govil to take a swipe at Lord Ram, suggesting that ISRO must consult the actor because he would know more about the rocketry.
Another post by ‘Unofficial Mohammed Zubair’ shows an aeroplane under the water with the caption: “Breaking: Underwater Pushpaka Vimana used by Ravana 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, regarded as one of the most important languages of Hinduism and the means of communication by the Hindu Gods.
As his Hinduphobia posts started getting traction, with netizens sharing screenshots to highlight how Zubair has been moving and hurting the sentiments of Hindus, the AltNews co-founder quietly pulled down his Facebook page. A few days later, he deleted the controversial tweets as well.
