Lakhimpur Kheri Court Sends Alt News' Mohammed Zubair to 14-Day Judicial Custody

A warrant was issued against Zubair by the police for allegedly spreading enmity between religious groups.

Mohammed Zubair was arrested on 27 June.

(Photo: PTI)

A court in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri on Monday, 11 July, sent Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair to judicial custody for 14 days.

A warrant was issued by the Lakhimpur Kheri police against the fact-checker on 9 July over a case registered against him in 2021 for allegedly spreading enmity between religious groups.

The warrant was issued to Zubair at the Sitapur district jail on Friday, asking him to appear before the court by 11 July.

In the FIR accessed by The Quint, the complainant, named Ashish Kumar Katiyar, accused Zubair of propagating fake news on Twitter with the motive of disturbing communal harmony, following which a case was registered under Section 153-A (promoting enmity between two groups) of the Indian Penal Code.

5-Day Interim Bail Granted by Supreme Court

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court granted five-day interim bail to Zubair on Friday in the Uttar Pradesh police's FIR against him over his reference in a tweet to certain Hindutva leaders as ‘hatemongers.’ The court said that the order pertains to the ‘hatemongers’ case FIR, and not any other FIR against him.

Despite the relief, Zubair has not been released since he continues to be in judicial custody in connection with an FIR registered by the Delhi Police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity through his tweet in 2018, in which he had shared an image from a Hindi film that showed the signboard of a hotel visibly changed from 'Honeymoon Hotel' to 'Hanuman Hotel.'

Notably, the image in question is taken from the scene of a Bollywood movie Kissi Se Na Kehna, directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, which has aired on TV several times.