Mohammad Zubair Records Statement Over FIR Lodged In Ghaziabad Police Station

The Allahabad HC on December 20 stayed till January 6 arrest of Zubair about an FIR accusing him of promoting enmity among religious groups.

Ghaziabad:Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair on Monday recorded his statement over an FIR lodged by the general secretary of Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Trust, Udita Tyagi, police said.

In her complaint, Tyagi had stated that Zubair provoked the Muslims through an inflammatory tweet due to which hundreds of Muslims attacked Dasna Devi temple to kill Yati on October 3, Kavi Nagar ACP Abhishek Srivastava said.

The case was registered under sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 228 (fabricating false evidence), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 356(3) (defamation) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the BNS.

In his viral post, Zubair had allegedly posted a clipping of Yati's speech of September 29, which he delivered in a programme held at Hindi Bhawan, Ghaziabad in which he allegedly used some derogatory language for Prophet Mohammad.

Zubair had obtained a stay order on his arrest from the Allahabad High Court. But the court had instructed him to cooperate with Ghaziabad police in its investigation. The Allahabad High Court on December 20 stayed till January 6 the arrest of Zubair in relation to an FIR accusing him of promoting enmity among religious groups.

The court also directed him not to travel abroad. Following the orders, Zubair reached Kavi Nagar police station on Monday and lodged his statement. He also answered the questions of the police which were based on many points. He stayed in the police station for four hours. ACP Srivastava said.