NEW DELHI: Alt News' co-founder Mohammed Zubair was arrested on June 27 by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on charges of promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and deliberate acts to outrage religious feelings through one of his tweets, officials said. The 'objectionable' tweets were posted in 2018.
The journalist's arrest comes weeks after he flagged off BJP's now-suspended leader Nupur Sharma's controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad during a TV debate which set off an international furore.
In the said tweet, Zubair had used a screengrab from legendary filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee's 1983 classic film 'Kissi Se Na Kehna', which showed an image of a hotel, with its board reading 'Hanuman hotel' instead of 'Honeymoon hotel'. In his tweet, Zubair had written, "BEFORE 2014: Honeymoon Hotel. After 2014: Hanuman Hotel".
The complainant tagging Delhi Police had written, "Linking our God Hanuman Ji with Honeymoon is a direct insult of Hindus because he is a brahmchari. Kindly take action against this."
Noting the complaint, the Delhi Police First Information Report (FIR) says. FIR said that the words and pictures used by Zubair in the tweet against a particular community were"highly provocative" and "more than sufficient to incite feelings of hatred amongst people which can be detrimental for maintenance of public tranquility in the society".
"Transmission and publication of such posts has been deliberately done by Mohammed Zubair through electronic media to insult the religious feelings of a particular community with intent to provoke breach of peace," an excerpt from the FIR copy, exclusively accessed by IANS, reads.
Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha alleged on Twitter that Zubair was arrested in a case for which no notice was given by the police, which is mandatory under law for the sections under which he has been held. He was called to Delhi for questioning in a different case from 2020, in which the court has given him protection from arrest. But he was arrested in this new case instead, without notice, Sinha tweeted.
He was not at all being cooperative with the police in the investigation, a senior Delhi Police official said today. The police official said that Zubair was "evasive on the questions" and neither provided the necessary technical equipment for the purpose of the investigation.
After Zubair's tweet, his followers on social media entities amplified and created a series of debates and hate mongering in the thread. "He was examined in this separate case and his role was found objectionable," the official said.
"We had served him a notice under section 41 A of the CrPc", the official told IANS. The section 41 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure deals with the notice of appearance before police officers.
Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha alleged that Zubair was arrested in a case for which no notice was given by the police, which is mandatory under law for the sections under which he has been held.
Opposition leaders, including Gandhi, slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government over the arrest.
What section 41 A of the CrPc means
Under this section, the police officer shall, in all cases where the arrest of a person is not required, issue a notice directing the person against whom a reasonable complaint has been made, or credible information has been received, or a reasonable suspicion exists that he has committed a cognizable offence, to appear before him or at such other place as may be specified in the notice.
When such a notice is issued to any person, it shall be the duty of that person to comply with the terms of the notice. When such person complies and continues to comply with the notice, he shall not be arrested in respect of the offence referred to in the notice unless, for reasons to be recorded, the police officer is of the opinion that he ought to be arrested.
And when the person being questioned is not cooperative, the law says that if such person, at any time, fails to comply with the terms of the notice or is unwilling to identify himself, the police officer may, subject to such orders as may have been passed by a competent court in this behalf, arrest him for the offence mentioned in the notice.
The official said that the counsel for the accused Mohammed Zubair moved application for grant of bail, however, the same was heard at length and upon not finding any merit, the bail was ultimately declined.
Opposition reacts to Zubair's arrest
The Opposition criticised the present dispensation, accusing them of curbing free speech and targeting those who are exposing the BJP.
"Every person exposing BJP's hate, bigotry and lies is a threat to them. Arresting one voice of truth will only give rise to a thousand more. Truth ALWAYS triumphs over tyranny," tweeted Rahul Gandhi soon after the news of fact-checker's arrest broke out.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that Altnews and Zubair have been in the forefront of exposing the "bogus claims of the Vishguru", who has struck back with a vengeance characteristic of him. "Delhi Police, reporting to the Union Home Minister, has long lost any pretensions of professionalism and independence," he said.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Twitter criticised the Delhi Police for "bending over backwards to please sahibs", while claiming that Muhammad Zubair was arrested "on a fabricated charge" while "Ms Fringe Sharma lives a life of protection."
(With inputs from PTI and online desk)