“Not Dreaded Criminal”: Allahabad High Court Grants Interim Relief To Mohammed Zubair
Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh: The Allahabad High Court on Friday stayed the “immediate arrest” of Alt News cofounder and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair, who was booked by the Uttar Pradesh police in a case against him for a post on X (formerly Twitter), criticising controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand for his alleged hate speech.
The Allahabad High Court questioned the charges under Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against Zubair. A bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Nalin Srivastava observed that the fact-checker was “not a dreaded criminal” and that his immediate arrest is “not necessary.”
Also Read | “Withdraw FIR Filed Against Mohammed Zubair”: Press Club Of India
The next hearing of the case has been scheduled for January 6, 2025. The court has said that no action will be taken against him till then.
The court also directed the state to file a detailed response to Zubair’s plea seeking protection from arrest in the case.
Earlier, the Allahabad High Court had recused from hearing a plea moved by Mohammed Zubair challenging the FIR and seeking protection from his arrest. The bench stated that the matter be placed before another bench.
On October 8, an FIR was filed against Zubair over a post on X featuring a video of an event at Ghaziabad’s Lohiya Nagar that took place on September 29. In the clip, Narsinghanand allegedly called for the end of Islam and targeted Prophet Muhammad, prompting FIRs against him in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Telangana.
Instead of addressing the alleged hate speech, the police charged Zubair, who flagged the incident on the social media platform X. The FIR, lodged by Udita Tyagi, General Secretary of the Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Foundation, accused Zubair of inciting violence by sharing an old video of Narsinghanand.
The FIR includes multiple charges, such as promoting enmity on religious grounds, defamation, and criminal intimidation. Recently, the investigating officer added Section 66 of the IT Act and Section 152 of the BNS, a provision widely dubbed as a repurposed sedition law to suppress dissent.
The Press Club of India condemned the move and demanded the withdrawal of the FIR filed against Zubair.
As the police added additional charges against the journalist, many X users came in his support with the hashtag #IStandWithZubair, pointing out that reporting hate crime was not a crime.
