‘Was Evasive, Didn’t Cooperate on Ques Over Objectionable Tweet’: Cops on Why Zubair of Alt News was Held
A Delhi court in a late-night hearing on Monday sent Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair to one day of police custody remand of the Special Cell’s Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO).
A case was earlier registered under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, language etc) and 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code against Zubair on Monday.
The founder of the fact checking website was produced before Duty Magistrate Ajay Narwal of Patiala House Court at his residence in Delhi’s Burari.
Zubair was represented by Advocates Soutik Banerjee and Kawalpreet who argued before the court that the FIR is retaliatory and the tweet is four-year-old.
It was further argued on behalf of Zubair’s legal team that the offence is barred by limitation also. No ingredients are made out of 153A and 295A, and 41A CrPC notice procedure has been violated, they said.
Zubair was arrested in a case which the Delhi Police registered after receiving a complaint from a Twitter handle, wherein it was alleged that he had tweeted a questionable image with a purpose to deliberately insult religious sentiments.
“Such tweets were getting retweeted and it appeared that there is a brigade of social media entities, who indulge in insult mongering thereby leading to a possible ramification on communal harmony and is overall against the maintenance of public tranquility,” the police said.
“During investigation of the said case, Delhi Police had given status report, wherein the tweet by Mohammad Zubair was not found objectionable. Whereas, subsequent tweets after his tweet led to series of questionable and derogatory tweets. In the investigation of FIR no. 194/20, he had been earlier examined and the investigation is on the verge of conclusion,” police further said.
As per senior officials placed in the IFSO Unit of the Special Cell, in June this year, when Delhi Police was alerted by a Twitter handle that Mohammed Zubair had earlier made an objectionable tweet and his followers/social media entities had amplified and created a series of debates/hate mongering in the thread, he was examined in this case under sections 153A/295A IPC and his role was found objectionable.
“He was evasive on the questions and neither provided the necessary technical equipment for the purpose of the investigation nor cooperated in the investigation,” the senior official said.
The police also stated that the conduct of Mohammed Zubair was found questionable, which warranted his custodial interrogation to unravel the conspiracy in this matter. Accordingly, he was arrested.
