The Allahabad High Court on Friday granted interim protection from arrest to Alt News co-founder and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair till January 6, in connection with an FIR lodged against him over his post on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) regarding an alleged inflammatory speech delivered by controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand.
The Bench of Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Nalin Srivastava, while making an oral observation that Zubair was not a dreaded criminal, directed the State of Uttar Pradesh to file a detailed response to Zubair’s plea seeking protection from arrest in the case.
The High Court further directed Zubair not to leave the country and cooperate with police in the investigation.
The Bench could not conclude the hearing in the case today since the state government had yet to conclude its argument. The High Court will close for Christmas vacations on December 21 and reopen on January 2.
Additional Advocate General Manish Goyal, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, submitted that a series of X posts by Zubair on Narsinghanand’s alleged speech contained half-baked information, which could damage and threaten the country’s sovereignty and integrity.
He further contended that Zubair’s X post, which intended to provoke violence against Narsinghanand, also gave hints of a ‘separatist activity’.
On December 18, the High Court came down heavily on Mohammed Zubair for sharing a post on X regarding Yati Narsinghanand’s controversial speech.
Noting that it was not appropriate for Zubair to post about the alleged speech on social media, the Bench of Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra orally asked the petitioner about his intentions behind the act.
It said that if Zubair did not like the speech delivered by Yati Narshighanand, then instead of going to the social media handle and creating social disharmony, the petitioner could have filed an FIR against the priest or approached the court for relief.
After going through Zubair’s tweet, the High Court orally remarked
that it appeared that the AltNews co-founder was trying to create unrest.
The Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner argued that Zubair was simply exercising his freedom of speech by referring to an alleged speech delivered by Yati Narsinghanand, highlighting the conduct of the priest.
The lawyer apprised the Bench that many people had shared information on the matter on social media. He further argued that an FIR was lodged against the priest three hours before Zubair posted the tweet, adding that the petitioner did not know that an FIR had been lodged in the matter.
He further argued that when the X post was made, there was no prohibition order from the police or any other administrative authority to stop tweeting about Yati Narsinghanand’s speech.
The High Court then enquired whether any law permitted an individual to resort to Twitter instead of approaching the court.
In response, the Senior Counsel said he could demonstrate that the Supreme Court had allowed such recourse. He then mentioned an FIR on which no action was taken.
An FIR was lodged by the Ghaziabad Police in November against Zubair, accusing him of promoting enmity among religious groups following a complaint by an associate of controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand.
Udita Tyagi, general secretary of the Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Trust, lodged the FIR, claiming that Zubair posted a video clip of an old programme of Narsinghanand on October 3 with the intent to provoke violence by Muslims against him.
It was further alleged in the complaint that Zubair posted edited clips of the priest on X (formerly Twitter), containing Narsinghanand’s alleged incendiary remarks on Prophet Muhammad, to incite radical sentiments against the controversial priest.
The AltNews co-founder was booked under Sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 228 (fabricating false evidence), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 356(3) (defamation) and 351(2) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The Uttar Pradesh police last month apprised the High Court that Section 152 of BNS, which criminalised acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India, had been invoked against Zubair. The state police said it was probing the case with utmost sincerity and due diligence.
Zubair moved the High Court against the FIR, contending that his tweet did not call for violence against the priest.
He said he had merely alerted the police authorities about Narsinghanand’s actions, seeking action under law, which could not amount to promoting disharmony or ill-will between two classes of people.
The case was last month listed before the Bench of Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Prashant Kumar. After the Bench recused from hearing the plea, the matter came up before the Bench of Justice Varma and Justice Mishra.
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