A Delhi court on Tuesday remanded Alt News co-founder and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair to four days police custody.
Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police on Monday evening in a case over a tweet he had shared in 2018 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. The Delhi Police had sought 5-day custody.
Zubair was produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria of Patiala House Courts in the city. Senior Advocate Vrinda Grover appeared for him.
Grover argued that Zubair was granted protection by the Delhi High court in 2019. In that case, the status report submitted by Delhi Police said his tweet was not offensive as per its investigation.
She said that Zubair was arrested in haste and was booked under Sections 153A and 295 of IPC, which is a maximum of three years and two years, respectively. The tweet they are referring to is from 2018.
Grover said the image Zubair had shared in the 2018 tweet was from a film Kisi Se Na Kehna that was made in 1983, and there is no editing that the accused or anyone else did.
“This is a photograph of a movie. This isn’t a place of worship. This is a joke on the honeymooners. Where is the damage?” asked Vrinda Grover.
It was also mentioned in the argument that Zubair was called for a different case and arrested in connection with another.
Grover said that is it their case that if it’s the same tweet, many others have said that too, the only distinction between them and her client is a distinction of faith of his name, his work? Is that the reason he is being targeted?
That is a professional duty of a journalist to speak truth to power and he is being targeted for that, said Grover.
For the Delhi Police, the prosecutor said this is the trend these days to get famous by outraging religious feelings. There are four other posts where he is showing something by editing scenes from Mahabharat.
Delhi Police said they have recovered Zubair’s laptop through which he shared the tweet and requested the court to grant it 5-day custody.