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.

FIR against Mohammed 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.

Hours after the Delhi Police arrested Alt-News co-founder Mohammed Zubair for his Hinduphobic posts, it has been learnt that he formatted his phone before his arrest. Further, Zubair was evasive when questioned by the police and didn’t cooperate with the police forming grounds for his arrest.

Sharing the information, DCP IFSO KPS Malhotra said, “Mohammed Zubair’s objectionable tweet led to a Twitter storm with hate speeches, detrimental to communal harmony. 2 things including technical gadget & intention was important. He was evasive on both, the phone was formatted. This formed grounds of arrest.”

He further says, "If you endorse a view on social media, it becomes your view. Retweeting & saying I don't know, doesn't stand here. Responsibility is yours. Time does not matter, you only have to re-tweet & it becomes new. The police action was on basis of when the matter came to our cognizance. If someone is booked in several cases it's our right to question him in all. Judiciary is involved, custody is given, bail is not granted, and there must be some substance to the case. Calling it politically motivated doesn't stand right. We'll ask for more remand."

Further, as per the police remand notice accessed by Times Now, Zubair has refused to answer most of the questions during the interrogation.

On Monday night, Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair was brought to the IFSO Delhi Police special cell in Dwarka after he was sent to one-day police remand. It has now been learnt that Zubair is not cooperating with the Police and has refused to answer most of the questions put to him, as mentioned in the remand copy.

Zubair has also refused to sign on the paper of the remand copy which is enclosed in an annexure, which is to be duly signed both by the Investigation Officer (IO) and the accused. The IO has further noted that while the accused has joined the investigation, he is not cooperating with the same.

The Delhi Police’s rationale behind taking custody of Zubair was to extract information from him during his custody. While Zubair is not cooperating with the agency for the same, it would be difficult for him to be granted bail by the Court under such circumstances.

Currently, the Delhi Police are looking for Mohammed Zubair’s phone using which he made the tweets insulting Hindu Gods which have come under scrutiny. Meanwhile, Zubair has claimed that he has lost the gadget. According to Times Now, the police are currently tracking the deletion of the data, which could also attract charges of tempering with the evidence against Zubair.

Mohammed Zubair was arrested for hurting the religious sentiments of the Hindu community. He was booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153 (provocation to cause riot) and 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings).

References:

opindia.com