Journalist and Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair on Thursday was presented before a local court in Uttar Pradesh which remanded him in 14-day judicial custody in connection with two cases lodged at Hathras police station for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
Zubair’s appearance in the Hathras court came amid a series of cases and FIRs lodged against him in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi after the Delhi Police arrested him last month over a tweet which he posted in 2018.
The fact-checker is facing a total of six cases in five districts of Uttar Pradesh, including two are registered in Hathras districts and one each in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad and Muzaffarnagar.
On July 4, a case was lodged at Hathras police station under charges of promoting communal enmity.
The UP government on Wednesday had announced the formation of a two-member SIT to investigate the cases against Zubair. inspector General Dr Preetinder Singh, a 2004-batch IPS officer, presently posted at the Department of Prisons Administration and Reform will head the team, along with will DIG Amit Verma, a 2008-batch IPS officer who is posted at the UP Police’s SIT department.
Out of six cases, officers said that in two cases being probed by the SIT, police are the complainants. The complainants are local residents in the remaining four cases.
Zubair has been alleged with various charges, including promoting enmity between two groups and deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.
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Rabia Shireen is a Staff Reporter at The Cognate.
