The Editors Guild of India has condemned fact-checking website Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair’s arrest and demanded his immediate release.
In a statement, it called the arrest “extremely disturbing” as he has done exemplary work in identifying fake news. “It is apparent that Alt News’ alert vigilance was resented by those who use disinformation as a tool to polarise society and rake nationalist sentiments.”
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The Delhi Police on Monday arrested Zubair weeks after he flagged former Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s comments against Prophet Mohammed.
In its First Information Report (FIR) against Zubair, the police said the words and the picture he used in a 2018 tweet “against a particular religious community and are highly provocative and more than sufficient to incite a feeling of hatred among people”.
The FIR says the complainant in the case, a police sub-inspector, was monitoring social media when he came across Twitter user @balajikijaiin’s post seeking action against Zubair’s tweet, which said: “BEFORE 2014: Honeymoon Hotel. After 2014: Hanuman Hotel.” The tweet was posted with an image of the hotel’s signboard.