New Delhi: Journalist and Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair on Thursday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad High Court’s refusal to quash FIR registered against him for allegedly calling Hindu right-wing members “hatemongers”. The bench agreed to list the matter on Friday.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing Zubair, mentioned the matter before a vacation bench comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari and sought an urgent hearing on the plea, IANS reported.
Gonsalves said that a look at the FIR shows that there is no crime and there are death threats against his client.
He added that they went to the Allahabad High Court, but no relief was granted and the court said it was premature. “Bail is sought on emergency. There are death threats on the Internet. If possible, list today at 2 pm…,” the news agency quoted Gonsalves as saying. The bench agreed to list the matter and posted it for Friday.
On Monday, Zubair was produced in a court at Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh in a case registered over a tweet that allegedly referred to Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati and two other Hindu right-wing members as “hate mongers”.
On June 3, a case was registered against him at the Khairabad police station on a complaint lodged by Hindu Lion Army district president Bhagwan Sharan.
On July 2, a Delhi court rejected the bail plea of Zubair in connection with an ‘objectionable tweet’ allegedly posted against a Hindu man and granted his 14-day custody as sought by the Delhi Police. He will be next produced before the court on July 16, the report said.
The Delhi High Court had earlier issued a notice to the Delhi Police on a plea moved by Zubair challenging the Patiala House Courts’ order allowing his police custody and seizure of his laptop in connection with the tweet.
Pertinently, last year, an FIR was lodged against various Hindu right-wing members including Yati Narsinghanand and Jitendra Tyagi for inciting violence against the Muslims of India.
The case was registered under IPC Section section 153A — promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language — and the matter is under investigation.
During the three-day event in Haridwar, the Hindu right-wing members including Sadhvi Annapurna Maa, Dharamdas Maharaj, Anand Swaroop Maharaj, Swami Sagar Sindhuraj, Swami Prabodanand Giri, Swami Premanand Maharaj, BJP member, Ashwini Upadhyay, and the party’s Mahila Morcha member, Udita Tyagi, called for a Hindu Raj and violence against Muslims and pledged to kill Muslims in India en masse.
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