New Delhi: The Allahabad High Court has been informed that the section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for the offence of endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India has been included in the First Information Report (FIR) registered against Mohammad Zubair, who is the co-founder of fact-checking website Alt-News.
Zubair had posted a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) calling a speech made by Yati Narsinghanand in which he allegedly made remarks against Prophet Muhammad “derogatory and hateful”.
Protests were carried out at the Dasna Devi Temple
Several FIRs were registered against Narsinghanand for inciting communal hatred and hurting religious sentiments following his speech on September 29. It was claimed by Narsinghanand’s aides that he was taken away by the Ghaziabad Police, which denied arresting him. Protests were subsequently carried out at the Dasna Devi Temple.
A complaint was lodged against Zubair
A complaint was lodged by an office-bearer of the Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Foundation alleging that the Alt News journalist shared Narsinghanand’s old video clip with the intent to incite violence against him. It also accused Zubair, Arshad Madani and Asaduddin Owaisi for violent protests at Dasna Devi Mandi.
FIR was subsequently registered against Zubair
Subsequently, an FIR was registered against Zubair under various sections of the BNS, charging him for promoting enmity on religious grounds, outraging religious feelings by insulting religion or religious beliefs and defamation.
Zubair moved High Court seeking protection from arrest
Zubair had moved the High Court seeking protection from arrest, claiming that he had posted on social media X to highlight repeated communal remarks and derogatory comments made by Narsinghanand and the case registered against him is a malicious attempt to prevent him from exposing criminal activities of Narsinghanand.
High Court directed IO to file an affidavit
The High Court, during the last hearing, it had directed the investigating officer (IO) of the case to file an affidavit by the next date of hearing into the matter clearly specifying under which penal sections the Alt News journalist has been implicated.
The IO told the High Court that two new sections – section 66 of the Information Technology Act and section 152 of the BNS – has been added to the FIR.
As per the Bar and Bench report, the High Court permitted the amendment and has posted the matter for hearing on December 3.
