Zubair denies posting content for popularity, says disclosure statement false

Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, who is under investigation for an allegedly objectionable tweet he made in 2018, on Monday denied the claims of Delhi Police.

Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, who is under investigation for an allegedly objectionable tweet he made in 2018, on Monday denied the claims of Delhi Police and said that he does not post content that triggers religious sentiments to gain popularity.

AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair (ANI)

In a rejoinder filed in the Delhi high court, the Bengaluru-based journalist said he had not made any disclosure statement to the police in relation to the recovery of certain devices and any such disclosure is “wholly false, wrong, concocted and inadmissible in law”. His rejoinder was in response to the police’s status report on Zubair’s plea to release his laptop, mobile phones and other electronic devices.

Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through the tweet. His arrest was based on a complaint filed by a Twitter user earlier that month. Police had registered the FIR under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, language, etc.) and 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He was granted bail in July.

In its report filed in September, the police had said that it recovered one laptop, two invoices and a hard disk from Zubair’s residence in Bengaluru based on a disclosure statement that was admissible under the Indian Evidence Act and has to be looked upon at the time of trial.

On Monday, Zubair stated that the Delhi police attributed “false and concocted theories” to him in the name of “disclosure statements”, which is a “subversion of the rule of law” and made a “mockery of due process”, and the search and seizure from his residence were carried out with malafide reasons.

In its report, the police had said that Zubair made the objectionable tweets in order to gain popularity that triggered religious sentiments and he remains trending in news/ social media. The police said that the journalist had disclosed to them that the mobile and laptop, used to make the tweet in question, were at his residence.

However, refuting the police’s statement, Zubair, through his counsel advocates Vrinda Grover and Soutik Banerjee, said that he had not made any such disclosure statements to the police.

He added that he had informed the police that the mobile phone used to send the tweet in question was lost and a report in this regard was also filed with the crime branch, Bengaluru police.

Zubair stated in the reply that he was a fact-checker who posted content on social media to debunk misinformation and fake news and his work was not limited to any particular kind of posts.

“I categorically and specifically deny that in order to gain popularity I post content that triggers religious sentiments… I am a fact checker and I post content on social media debunking fake news, misinformation and disinformation of all kinds, and my work is not limited to any particular kind of posts, nor do I post content for popularity or any other material gain,” he asserted.

Denying the “disclosure statements” being attributed to him, Zubair contended, “The statement attributed to me as a disclosure is manifestly wrong, false and concocted, to fabricate a non-existent ground to unlawfully raid my residence and seize my laptop and hard disk, which I use for my journalistic fact-checking work….The said search and seizure from my residence was thus carried out with malafide reasons extraneous to the need for investigation”.

He submitted that the admissibility of the recoveries during the police investigation remains under contest as they are wholly illegal and all investigative steps premised on the purported disclosures, including the search and seizure, are inadmissible. “The actions of the investigating officer in creating false and concocted disclosure statements to sustain the investigation are a subversion of the rule of law and make a mockery of due process,” he said.