Alt News co-founder Zubair remanded to four-day police custody over tweet

Chief metropolitan magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria pronounced the order, concurring with the prosecution’s claim that Zubair was non-cooperative during interrogation and has to be taken to Bengaluru to recover a mobile phone and laptop.

A Delhi court on Tuesday extended Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair’s police custody by four days over a case it registered a day before for an allegedly objectionable tweet he posted in 2018.

Alt News co-founder Zubair remanded to four-day police custody over tweet

Chief metropolitan magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria pronounced the order, concurring with the prosecution’s claim that Zubair was non-cooperative during interrogation and has to be taken to Bengaluru to recover a mobile phone and laptop.

Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for Zubair, contended that the question of the devices was not connected to the case since the appearance was in connection with a different case.

Grover also contended that an image in the purportedly objectionable was a screenshot from a 1983 Hindi movie Kissi Se Na Kehna. “This image is available in many tweets. This image is from a film of Hrishikesh Mukherjee - Kissi Se Na Kehna. In the film, it is a newly married couple and they go to the hotel. This image which is being shown as a reason for arresting somebody is from a Hindi cinema,” she said.

The court, however, rejected the submission.

Zubair, who recently flagged controversial comments on Prophet Mohammed by suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, was arrested by the Delhi Police on Monday. He was produced before a duty magistrate later in the night and was sent to one-day police custody initially.

He has been booked for offences under sections 153A (promoting enmity between religious groups) and 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Seeking an extension of Zubair’s custody by five days, the police on Tuesday told the court that he was following a trend where he used religious tweets to gather followers.

“This was a deliberate effort on his part to create social disharmony and hurt religious feelings,” the police said.

The police also said that Zubair deliberately deleted apps and other material from his phone.

The case against Zubair is based on a complaint from a Twitter handle, Hanuman Bhakt, alleging that Zubair tweeted a questionable image with the intention to deliberately insult a Hindu deity. The handle had just one tweet.

Grover seized on the fact to contend that the complaint was part of an attempt to harass her client for challenging the ruling dispensation as a journalist and fact-checker.

She pointed out that many people shared that image. “My client is being targeted for his work. He may be challenging people who are powerful but that can’t be a reason for his harassment,” Grover said.

“They are seeking my (Zubair’s) laptop because I have been challenging many things. The laptop has nothing to do (with the case). They want my laptop because I’m a journalist. They want a phishing enquiry,” Grover said.

She said that tweet in question was published by Zubair in 2018. “Someone recently tweeted Zubair’s tweet of 2018, and the present case was filed. The anonymous Twitter handle had its very first tweet, which cited Zubair’s tweet, which has been picked up by police,” the counsel said.

Accusing the police of “playing mischief”, Grover said the agency called Zubair for questioning in some other case but he was arrested in the present case in haste.

“Even though this court was available within a 24-hour period post-arrest, he was produced before a duty magistrate where the police sought his seven-day custody,” the counsel said.

Grover further said that the alleged act does not come under the purview of Section 153A, adding that the Twitter handle using Zubair’s tweet is not the spokesperson of all the Hanuman devotees.

Zubair’s counsel also said the accused was not supplied a copy of the remand application.

“Police is trying to create media hype, media frenzy. Police are abusing their power,” the counsel said.

Appearing for the Delhi Police, the public prosecutor said that there is a trend in the country to outrage the religious feelings of the Hindu community.

“Such tweets were getting retweeted and it appeared that there is a brigade of social media entities, who indulge in insult mongering thereby leading to a possible ramification on communal harmony and is overall against the maintenance of public tranquility,” a statement by Delhi Police said.

Granting the police request, the judge directed that Zubair be produced before the court on July 2, and further asked the investigating officer to get medical of the accused conducted as per rules.

“Considering that mobile phone/laptop of accused used by him for posting the tweet in question is to be recovered at the instance of accused Mohammed Zubair from his Bangalore residence and that accused has remained non-cooperative and the disclosure statement on record, four days PC (police custody) remand of accused is granted since accused is to be taken to Bangalore,” the judge said in a 3-page order.