Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court on Friday (December 20) stayed the arrest of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in a case registered against him for allegedly promoting enmity among religious groups.
The FIR against Zubair was registered on a complaint lodged by Udita Tyagi, general secretary of Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Trust, alleging that Zubair shared old video clip of Narsinghanand with the intent to incite violence against him.
A bench comprising Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Nalin Kumar Srivastava provided the relief to the Alt News co-founder, news agency PTI reported.
What did Zubair posted on social media?
Zubair had posted on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) calling Narsinghanand’s speech in which he allegedly made remarks against Prophet Muhammad “derogatory and hateful”.
Ghaziabad police lodged an FIR last month
The First Information Report (FIR) was registered by the Ghaziabad police last month under sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 228 (fabricating false evidence), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 356(3) (defamation) and 351(2) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Zubair moved High Court seeking quashing of FIR, protection from arrest
Zubair had moved the High Court seeking quashing of the FIR against him and protection from arrest, claiming that he had posted a post on social media X to highlight repeated communal remarks and derogatory comments made by Narsinghanand.
What did Zubair say?
Zubair further stated that the case registered against him by the Ghaziabad police is a malicious attempt to prevent him from exposing criminal activities of Narsinghanand. The Alt News co-founder also challenged the invocation of the defamation provision under the BNS, submitting that seeking action against Narsinghanand by sharing his own videos which are already in public domain, cannot amount to defamation.
Earlier, the High Court was informed that the section 152 of the BNS for the offence of endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India has been included in the FIR registered against Zubair.
