NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Tuesday remanded senior journalist and Alt News’ co-founder Mohammed Zubair in four-day police custody. The police had arrested him on Monday in connection with a four-year-old tweet, alleging it had led to a Twitter storm, hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity.
Media and human rights organisations like Amnesty India, Editors Guild and Press Club of India strongly condemned the arrest, calling it extremely disturbing. “It is apparent that Alt News’ alert vigilance was resented by those who use disinformation as a tool to polarise society,” the guild said in a statement.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria said, “Four-day police remand is being granted since the accused is to be taken to Bangaluru.”Appearing for Zubair, senior advocate Vrinda Grover argued that he was being maliciously targeted and that the case as a whole borders on ridiculousness. She alleged that Zubair was targeted because of his religious identity. “Many have tweeted the same, the only difference between those handles and mine is my faith, my name and my profession.”
But the prosecution contended that Zubair ought to be placed under police remand because his “intentional act of outraging religious emotions was on record.” Zubair allegedly “used provocative tweets to offend religious emotions in an effort to achieve recognition,” according to the police.
A four-member police team will be sent to Zubair’s house in Bengaluru on Wednesday to recover evidence. The police claimed Zubair received Rs 50 lakh in his bank account in the last three months, adding they were probing the source of the funding. But Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha said, “Absolutely lies. Police is linking donations received by Alt News to Zubair. All the money that Alt News receives goes to the organisations bank and not any individuals.”