Mohammed Zubair, one of the founders of the fact-checking website AltNews, was arrested today by the Delhi police for hurting religious sentiment and fostering hostility. He was detained by police for one day, news agency ANI reported.
The case is based on a complaint made by Twitter handle “@balajikijaiin” this month, alleging that Zveil tweeted a “suspicious” image to “intentionally insult a god of a particular religion.” .. Zubair submitted the tweet in March 2018.
Pratik Sinha, co-founder of AltNews, said Mr. Zveil was called to Delhi for questioning in a separate case from 2020, when the court gave protection against arrests. But he was instead arrested in this new case without compulsory notice, Shinha said. “Despite repeated requests, no copy of the FIR has been given to us.”
Police admitted that Mr. Zveil was originally cross-examined in an old case, but was arrested in a new case “after sufficient evidence in the records.” He is still being cross-examined and police will present him tomorrow before Justice of the Peace for further detention, which has been learned.
An old proceeding in 2020 was filed on Twitter on suspicion of harassing a girl. Zubair called for a man’s abusive online behavior by reposting his profile picture with her granddaughter, but blurring her face. Police have already told the court that no crime has been committed against Mr. Zveil for the tweet.