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Synopsis

Co-founder of fact checking website Alt News, Mohammad Zubair was recently arrested on Monday on charges of hurting religious sentiments following a complaint by a social media user who referred to one of his tweets from 2018. 

The police have claimed that an FIR has been filed against Zubair in connection with the complaint under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 295A (malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings).

Zubair has been remanded in police custody for a day and will be produced today before a Delhi court. 

The social media user who complained against Zubair goes by the name of "Hanuman Bhakt" and has over 400 followers on Twitter. 

Zubair's arrest has been criticised by the opposition, including Congress, TMC, RJD, AIMIM and other parties, who have accused the BJP-led NDA government for arresting those who "expose its hate speech and propaganda" 

Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police's IFSO (Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations) unit which comes under the Special Cell Delhi Police and handles cases of cyber crime and cyber forensics. 

DCP (IFSO) K P S Malhotra has reportedly said: “Delhi Police has registered a case after getting a complaint from a Twitter handle, wherein it was alleged that Mohammed Zubair had tweeted a questionable image with a purpose to deliberately insult the god of a particular religion. Such tweets were getting retweeted and it appeared that there is a brigade of social media entities, who indulge in insult mongering thereby leading to a possible ramification on communal harmony and is overall against the maintenance of public tranquility.”

Earlier this month, Zubair had highlighted comments made by Nupur Sharma on the Prophet, which triggered condemnation from a host of countries, including those from the Gulf. The outrage prompted the Centre to distance itself from Sharma’s comments, and the ruling BJP to suspend her and sack another party spokesperson Naveen Kumar Jindal.