New Delhi: The Editors Guild of India (EGI) on Tuesday termed as "extremely disturbing" the arrest of AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair on charges of hurting religious sentiments, and demanded his immediate release. "It is apparent that AltNews' alert vigilance was resented by those who use disinformation as a tool to polarise society and rake nationalist sentiments," the Guild said in a statement.
Zubair, who was arrested on Monday by the Delhi Police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, was sent to one-day police custody on Tuesday by Delhi's Patiala House Court. A case was earlier registered under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, language, etc) and 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code against Zubair, said K P S Malhotra, DCP (Cyber Crime).
"Counsel for Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair had moved bail application which was declined by the court on grounds of "not finding merits." Delhi Police's application for 1-day police remand was granted by the court," said Delhi Police officials. He was called for questioning during the day on Monday and was arrested in the evening.
“In a bizarre turn of events, Zubair was called in for questioning by the special cell of Delhi Police in a case from 2020, for which he already had protection against arrest from the Delhi High Court. However, when Zubair responded to the summons, he was arrested in relation to a criminal investigation initiated earlier in the month, after an anonymous Twitter handle alleged that Zubair’s 2018 post was hurting religious sentiments,” the EGI statement reads.
It added that Alt-News has done some great work in identifying fake news. The statement is signed by EGI president Seema Mustafa, general secretary Sanjay Kapoor and treasurer Anant Nath. “In fact, it was an exposure of toxic remarks of a ruling party spokesperson on a TV channel that allowed the party to make amends,” the statement reads. This refers to Zubair’s previous tweets that led BJP to remove Nupur Sharma as a spokesperson for her alleged remarks against the Prophet.
The EGI demanded that Delhi Police immediately release Zubair because it would be “necessary to buttress the commitments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the G-7 meet in Germany to ensure a resilient democracy by protecting online and offline content”. The Press Club of India also condemned the arrest of Zubair. In a statement issued Tuesday, PCI said: “It is ironic that Mohammed Zubair’s arrest by the Delhi Police came on a day when India joined G7 and four other countries to protect free speech ‘online and offline.’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the G7 meet in Germany where the signatories also committed to protect freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief and promoting inter-faith dialogue.”
“Are the Union Home Ministry and Delhi Police not on the same page with the Prime Minister on the commitment to freedom of expression?” it added. Meanwhile, TMC Supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also reacted to the arrest. "No action is taken against those who spread hatred and violence," she said. During his appearance in the court of the duty magistrate during the night, advocates Soutik Banerjee and Kanwalpreet Kaur, appearing for Zubair, filed a bail application. The court allowed Zubair to talk to his lawyer for half an hour during his police custody. The duty magistrate directed the Delhi Police to produce Zubair on June 28 before the magistrate.
Zubair had reportedly posted a picture in a tweet where the signboard of a hotel 'Honeymoon hotel ' was changed to 'Hanuman hotel'. "The said post of Mohammed Zubair containing pictures and words against a particular religious community is highly provocative and done deliberately which are more than sufficient to incite hatred among people which can be detrimental for maintenance of public tranquillity," said Delhi Police.