Never gave disclosure statement: Alt News co-founder Md Zubair’s report to Delhi HC

Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair filed his response in Delhi High Court on Monday, denying all claims of giving a “disclosure statement” to Delhi Police, as claimed by the latter.

Zubair has argued that “all consequent proceedings, including search and seizure premised upon the concocted and false disclosures, are also illegal, being extraneous to law and admissible in evidence,” LiveLaw reported on Monday.

The police report

In its report to the HC, the Delhi Police Special Cell claimed: “…on 27.06.2022, Mohammed Zubair…admitted that he had posted the above mentioned post related to Hanuman-Honeymoon hotel…Finally, Mohd. Zubair disclosed that the laptop and mobile phone used by him for posting the above content is at his residence in Bangalore and he can get the same recovered (sic),” the report states.

The police report claimed Zubair admitted that he had asked his family to “dispose off (sic) his equipment, including his mobile phone and laptop, in case he (was) arrested/apprehended by police.”

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When Zubair was in police custody, the police recovered one laptop, two invoices, and one hard disk from his Bangalore residence, says the report. The Special Cell also pointed out that these seizures were based on “disclosure statements…admissible under Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act, which are to be looked upon at the time of trial.”

On June 28, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM), Patiala House Court, had allowed the Special Cell to take Zubair into custody for four days. On July 2, the same court ordered 14-day judicial custody for Zubair. On July 15, Additional Sessions Judge Devender Jangala, Patiala House Court, granted him regular bail.

The Special Cell has stated in the report that the “quashing/setting aside” of the police custody by the CMM will now make the “recovery inadmissible.”

‘The phone was lost’

In his reply, Zubair has rubbished the police claim that he disclosed that the laptop and mobile phone he used to post the alleged tweet was at his house. He said he “clearly and specifically told the police that he no longer has the mobile phone with which the tweet was made.” It was lost, he has said and added that he had even lodged a report with the Bengaluru Crime Branch.

“Further, the tweet in question clearly states that it was posted from an Android device (mobile phone), so it has no connection to any laptop,” Zubair’s reply reads.

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“The statement attributed to me as a disclosure is manifestly wrong, false and concocted, to fabricate a non-existent ground to unlawfully raid my residence and seize my laptop and hard-disk, which I use for my journalistic fact-checking work,” his reply adds.

‘No post for popularity’

The Delhi Police Special Cell report also claims that Zubair disclosed that to gain popularity, he posts content “that triggers religious sentiment and he remains trending in news/social media.” Zubair has rubbished that claim as well.

“I categorically and specifically deny that in order to gain popularity I post content that triggers religious sentiments. I am a fact checker and I post content on social media debunking fake news, misinformation, and disinformation of all kind, and my work is not limited to any particular kind of posts, nor do I post content for popularity or any other material gain,” he has said in his reply.

Case history

According to Delhi Police, they arrested Zubair after receiving a complaint from a Twitter user that Zubair had tweeted a “questionable image with a purpose to deliberately insult the god of a particular religion” in 2018.

On July 20 this year, the Supreme Court disbanded the special investigation team formed in Uttar Pradesh to probe pending cases against Zubair. The apex court also granted Zubair interim bail in six cases filed in the state for allegedly hurting religious sentiments with Twitter posts and transferred the pending cases to Delhi.

On September 15, the single-judge Delhi HC Bench of Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav allowed Zubair’s counsel four weeks to file a rejoinder and listed the hearing for October 31.

(With agency inputs)