Alt News Co-founder Zubair Moves Supreme Court for Bail, Cites Death Threats

Meanwhile, a Sitapur court sent Mohammed Zubair to 14 days of judicial custody.

Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair.

(Photo: The Quint)

Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad High Court's refusal to quash an First Information Report (FIR) registered for a tweet in which he allegedly called Hindtuva leaders 'hatemongers.'

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves appearing for Zubair told the apex court that there is a serious threat to his life.

The matter was mentioned on Thursday, 7 July, before a vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari for urgent listing.

Gonsalves submitted, "This relates to Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of Alt News. His job is to fact check news, and he was doing the role of identifying hate speeches. A look at the FIR shows that there is no crime. We went to Allahabad HC, but no relief granted. Bail is sought on emergency. There are death threats on the internet. If possible list today at 2. I am really worried," Live Law reported.

The top court has agreed to hear his petition on Friday, 8 July.

Sitapur Court Sends Zubair to 14-Days Judicial Custody

An FIR was registered against Zubair on 3 June at the Khairabad police station in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur, for calling Hindu religious leaders like Yati Narasinghanand, Bajrang Muni, and Anand Swaroop "hatemongers" in his tweet dated 27 May.

He was produced at a Sitapur court on Thursday in the same case, and was sent to 14 days of judicial custody.

Zubair's Arrest

Zubair was initially arrested on 27 June for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through a tweet he had posted in 2018.

The tweet was apparently carrying a "questionable image with a purpose to deliberately insult the god of a particular religion," the police said.

Notably, the questionable 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.

Zubair had, 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.