Court Grants 4-Day Custody of Alt News Co-Founder Zubair to Delhi Police

The police had sought an extension of Zubair's custody by five days in a case related to a four-year-old tweet.

Mohammed Zubair was brought to Delhi's Patiala Court on Tuesday in connection with a case filed against him for one of his tweets.

(Photo: PTI)

A day after Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair was arrested, Delhi's Patiala Court on Tuesday, 28 June, granted the police four-day custody of the journalist after his one-day remand came to an end.

He was earlier brought to the court in connection with a case filed against him for one of his tweets. The police sought custody of the journalist for five more days.

The Delhi Police told the court that Zubair used controversial tweets to hurt religious sentiments and garner fame, news agency PTI reported.

Delhi Police also claimed that Zubair had received Rs 50 lakh in his bank account in the last three months.

"Police are investigating the source of the funding received & might take him to Bengaluru tomorrow," it was quoted as saying by ANI.

The allegation, however, was refuted by Pratik Sinha, another co-founder of Alt News who termed it as "absolute lies." He said that the police are linking the donations received by the news organisation to Zubair.

"All the money that Alt News receives goes to the organisations bank and not any individuals. The bank statement of Zubair's personal account of which I have a copy debunks this falsehood," Sinha wrote in his tweet.

Zubair was arrested on Monday, 27 June, and was sent to police remand for one day on the charge of allegedly hurting religious sentiments through a four-year-old tweet.

The charges against Zubair include the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153 (promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) and 295A (outraging religious feelings of any class).

Zubair's Tweet and the Court Order

Zubair, on 24 March 2018, tweeted a picture of the signboard of a hotel changed from 'Honeymoon Hotel' to 'Hanuman Hotel.'

"Before 2014 : Honeymoon Hotel. After 2014 : Hanuman Hotel. #SanskaariHotel," he had written.

It is pertinent to note that the image to which the objection has been raised was taken from the 1983 comedy film Kissi Se Na Kehna, directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The movie has aired on TV and other streaming platforms, and presumably has due clearance from the censor board.

The movie stars Deepti Naval, Farooq Shaikh, and Utpal Dutt, among others.

The court, however, ruled that the argument that the screenshot is from a 1983 film, is of no assistance to the accused.

"The submissions with respect to photograph which is a part of the tweet in question being a part of the movie Kissi Se Na Kaha of the year 1983 are also of no assistance to the accused at this stage," the order stated, according to Bar and Bench.

What the FIR Against Zubair Says

The First Information Report (FIR) filed against him states: "These words and the picture found to be used by Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) against a particular religious community and are highly provocative and more than sufficient to incite feeling of hatred amongst people which can be detrimental for maintenance of public tranquility in the society."

"Transmission and publication of such posts has been deliberately done by Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) through electronic media to insult the religious feelings of a particular community with intent to provoke breach of peace which attracts offence under section 153A/295 IPC," the FIR added.

IKPS Malhotra, DCP, Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO), said that Zubair's tweet had led to a "storm with hate speeches, detrimental to communal harmony."

He added that two aspects in the case were key, namely the journalist's intention and his mobile phone.

"He was evasive on both. The phone was formatted. This formed grounds of arrest," Malhotra was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

On the other hand, Zubair's colleague and Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha said in a tweet, "Counsels Soutik Banerjee and Kawalpreet Kaur appeared for Zubair. The police had sought 7 days police custody. The duty magistrate declined to give long custody and allowed custody for only 1 day. Half hour visitation has been allowed for the lawyer."

Sinha also said that no FIR copy was given to them "despite repeated requests."

The complaint against Zubair was registered by Twitter handle '@balajikijaiin.'

The account, whose user(s) remain anonymous, calls itself 'Hanuman Bhakt.' It is based out of Rajasthan, as per its location in its Twitter bio.

(With inputs from PTI, ANI, and Bar and Bench.)