Journalist Mohammed Zubair of AltNews arrested for ’hurting religious sentiments’

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

New Delhi, June 27, 2022: Journalist Mohammed Zubair was arrested on Monday for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity. He is one of the two founders of fact-checking website Alt News.

 

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, said KPS Malhotra, DCP (cyber crime).

Zubair joined the probe and after gathering sufficient evidence on record, he was arrested, Malhotra said. He said Zubair is being produced before a magistrate for seeking police remand.

Reacting to Zubair’s arrest, Pratik Sinha, the other founder of the website, tweeted: “(Mohammed) Zubair was called today by the special cell, Delhi, for investigation in a 2020 case for which he had already had a protection against arrest from high court. However, today at around 6.45 pm, we were told he has been arrested in some other FIR for which no notice was given which is mandatory under law for the sections under which he has been arrested. No FIR copy is being given to us despite repeated requests."