Mohammed Zubair sent to police custody for four days

A Delhi court on Tuesday extended by four days the custodial interrogation of fact-checking website Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, a day after he was arrested by the Delhi police over an objectionable tweet he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity.

As calls grow for the immediate release of the journalist, the Delhi Police claimed before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria that the accused was following a trend where he used religious tweets in an effort to get famous.

This was a deliberate effort on his part to create social disharmony and hurt religious feelings, the police alleged.

The accused, however, alleged that the police is abusing its power and wanted a “fishing enquiry”.

Describing Zubair’s arrest on charges of hurting religious sentiments as “extremely disturbing”, the Editors Guild of India said his release was necessary to buttress the commitments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G7 meet in Germany to ensure a resilient democracy by protecting online and offline content.

Zubair was produced before the court on the expiry of his one-day custodial interrogation.

The police submitted before the court that Zubair did not cooperate with the investigating agency and that his custodial interrogation was required to gather information regarding the device from which the tweet was made by him.

During the hearing, Zubair’s counsel Vrinda Grover said the photo that the accused used in the tweets is of an old Hindi film from 1983 by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Kissi Se Na Kehna, and that the movie was not banned.

The court, however, rejected the submission saying it was of no assistance to the accused at this stage.

Considering that mobile phone/laptop of accused used by him for posting the tweet in question is to be recovered at the instance of accused Mohammed Zubair from his Bangalore residence and that accused has remained non-cooperative and the disclosure statement on record, four days PC (police custody) remand of accused is granted since accused is to be taken to Bangalore, the judge said in a 3-page order.

The judge then directed that Zubair be produced before the court on July 2.

Police had sought an extension of Zubair’s custody by five days.

Grover opposed the police plea alleging that it had called Zubair for questioning in some other case but he was arrested in the present case in haste.

She said the tweet in question was published by Zubair in 2018. Someone recently tweeted Zubair’s tweet of 2018, and the present case was filed.

The anonymous Twitter handle had its very first tweet, which cited Zubairs tweet, which has been picked up by police.

The agency is playing mischief, the counsel said.

In any case, the Twitter handle using Zubair’s tweet is not the spokesperson of all the Hanuman devotees, she added.

Also read: Journalist Mohammad Zubair of Alt News arrested in Delhi

According to senior police officer KPS Malhotra, Zubair’s tweet led to a “Twitter storm with hate speeches, detrimental to communal harmony”. The officer told the media that Zubair was “evasive” and his phone had been formatted, which has formed grounds for arrest, he said.

There has been massive outrage across the country against his arrest, with the Opposition accusing the Delhi police, which reports to the Union home ministry, of trying to please their bosses.

Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra said Delhi police was “bending over backwards to please sahibs”. She said that Zubair was arrested on a a trumped case without notice while assisting in a case where HC has given him protection. While Ms Fringe Sharma enjoys life of protection at tax payer expense for exact same offences. Calling them the lunatic fringe, she said it was time for all Hanumans to check into a honeymoon hotel.

This is really the lunatic fringe. @zoo_bear arrested on suo moto complaint filed by SI Special cell Delhi Police On 20/6/22 for 2018 tweet by @zoo_bear where he retweeted photo from Hrishikesh Mukherjee 1983 movie!

Time for all hanumans to check into a honeymoon hotel. pic.twitter.com/Qx7RgmhLWH

— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) June 27, 2022