Indian journalist arrested for allegedly hurting religious sentiments

Indian journalist arrested for allegedly hurting religious sentiments

Mohammed Zubair has been under attack from Hindutva groups for exposing fake news and calling out hate speech by Hindu monks

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI (AA) - Indian journalist Mohammed Zubair, a co-founder of the fact-checking website Alt News, was arrested Monday evening by New Delhi police on charges of hurting religious sentiments with a tweet he posted in 2018, according to media reports.

Zubair was arrested following a complaint from a Twitter user earlier this month who claimed the Muslim journalist had insulted Hindus by commenting on the renaming of a hotel in the name of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman.

Zubair has been under constant attack from Hindutva groups for exposing fake news and calling out hate speech by Hindu monks.

According to information, he was summoned for questioning in connection with one case but was arrested over a different case.

"Today during the course of an investigation of a case registered at PS-Special Cell u/s 153A/295A Indian Penal Code, alleged Mohammed Zubair was joined in the investigation of the case and after having sufficient evidence on record, he was arrested in the present case. He is being produced before the magistrate for seeking further PC remand for the purpose of the investigation of the case,” said a statement by the New Delhi police.

”The journalist was evasive on questions and neither provided the necessary technical equipment for the purpose of the investigation nor cooperated in the investigation. During the investigation, Zubair's conduct was found to be questionable, which warranted his custodial interrogation to unravel the conspiracy,” it further said.

The other co-founder of Alt News, Pratik Sinha, in a statement said: “Zubair was called today by special cell, Delhi, for investigation in a 2020 case for which he already had protection against arrest from the High Court."

"However, today at around 6.45 p.m., we were told he has been arrested in some other FIR (First Information Report) for which no notice was given, which is mandatory under the law for the sections under which he has been arrested. Nor FIR copy is being given to us despite repeated requests," added Sinha.

A FIR is a document prepared by the police when they receive information about the commission of a cognizable offence.

Zubair was called by the police on Monday in connection with another case, but as he had protection against arrest from the High Court, a fresh case was filed against him and he was later arrested.

Zubair was the first to bring to notice ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokeswoman Nupur Sharma’s controversial remarks on Islam’s Prophet Mohammed. Later, Sharma and BJP spokesman Naveen Jindal were suspended from the party. Jindal had made controversial remarks about Islam on social media.

The issue snowballed into a major controversy with many Muslim countries expressing their displeasure over the disparaging remarks against the Prophet.

Kaynak:Source of News

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