BJP Leader Files Complaint Against Alt News' Zubair for Tweets on Arshdeep Singh

Sirsa alleged that Zubair had acted at the behest of "anti-national elements."

Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa has filed a police complaint against fact checker and co-founder of Alt News website Mohammed Zubair, accusing him of "spreading hate" against cricketer Arshdeep Singh and the Sikh community with his tweet.

The player became a victim of vicious trolling on social media after he dropped a catch during India's five-wicket loss to arch-rival Pakistan in the Super four match of the Asia Cup in Dubai on Sunday, 4 September.

In his complaint filed at the Parliament Street police station, Sirsa cited a tweet by Zubair where he had shared screenshots of tweets against Singh posted on various handles.

The BJP leader claimed that most of these tweets were from ''Pakistani accounts'' and alleged that Zubair had acted at the behest of "anti-national elements."

‘Most of the Tweets Were From Pakistani Accounts’: Sirsa

He demanded that an First Information Report (FIR) be filed against him and an investigation launched to unearth the conspiracy.

"Mohammed Zubair acting in connivance with anti-national elements across the border has cleverly taken screenshots from Twitter of various Twitter handles after searching with the word - Khalistani and has then posted a tweet at 00:05 hours on 5 September 2022 combining all these tweets," he alleged.

Sirsa alleged that Zubair was "trying to portray that such abusive and malicious tweets were posted by Indian Twitter handles, whereas the reality is that most of these Twitter accounts are Pakistani accounts".

He claimed some were created just for the purpose of this tweet, "the sole intention behind which was to spread hate against a nationalist and national level player who has given his heart and soul playing for the country and also against the entire Sikh community."

Zubair was arrested on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through a tweet against a Hindu deity in 2018. He was in custody for 24 days on allegations of hate speech and is now out on bail.

Multiple FIRs were lodged against Zubair in Uttar Pradesh -- two in Hathras and one each in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad and Chandauli.

He was released after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail, saying the "exercise of the power of arrest must be pursued sparingly".