Mohammad ZubairThe co-founder of fact-checking website AltNews, was produced in a court in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh on Monday. Case registered on tweet which allegedly referred to Yeti Narasimhananda Saraswati and two other religious leaders as “spreaders of hatred”.
After the chargesheet was filed in the case, Zubair was taken to Sitapur by Delhi Police and Uttar Pradesh Police asked him to appear in court.
The complaint was lodged by Hindu Lion Army district president Bhagwan Sharan at Khairabad police station on June 3 against Zubair after Zubair allegedly called yeti, Bajrang Muni and Anand Swarup “spreaders of hatred” in a tweet in May. But a case was registered.
Officials said the production warrant was issued after a chargesheet was filed against Zubair, against whom a case was registered under sections 295A (hurting religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Information Technology Act.
Earlier, the Cyber Crime Unit of Delhi Police had arrested Zubair last week for promoting enmity and hurting religious sentiments through a tweet from 2018. A court had sent him to 14-day custody on July 3 in this case.
He was arrested at the Dwarka office of the police in 2020 during interrogation in a POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses) case registered on the alleged “online harassment and torture” of a minor girl.