Mohammed Zubair, a journalist and co-founder of internationally renowned fact-checking website Alt News, was arrested on Monday on charges of hurting religious sentiments, inviting immediate criticism from the Opposition and activists who claimed that he was being harassed for exposing Hindutva elements.
He was put under arrest in connection with a case filed earlier this month following the Nupur Sharma episode in which she made controversial comments about Prophet Mohammed, which attracted international ire. Zubair had called out hate speech by Yati Narisnghanand among others and has faced online trolling.
Though a case has been registered against the former BJP spokesperson, who was suspended from the party, has not so far appeared before police for questioning in cases registered in Delhi and other places.
According to Delhi Police, Zubair was under investigation in a 2020 case in which he called out an online troll and was summoned for questioning on Monday. He has used a blurred picture of a girl, leading to the case against him.
Police said they had given a status report in which the tweet by Zubair was not found objectionable but subsequent tweets "led to a series of questionable and derogatory tweets". It said the investigation in this case was on the "verge of conclusion".
Earlier this month, police claimed, a Twitter handle alerted police that Zubair had tweeted a “questionable image with a purpose to deliberately insult the god of a particular religion”.
Police claimed such tweets were getting retweeted and it “appeared that there is a brigade of social media entities, who indulge in insu-mongering thereby leading to a possible ramification on communal harmony and is overall against the maintenance of public tranquillity”.
They said his tweet had led to a "series of debates and hate mongering". Police claimed his role was "found objectionable" and that he was "evasive" and "neither provided the necessary technical equipment...nor cooperated in the investigation. This warranted his custodial interrogation to unravel the conspiracy in this matter. He was then placed under arrest.
Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha said in a statement that Zubair was called in for questioning in a 2020 case for which he already had a protection against arrest from the Delhi High Court. "However today at around 6.45 PM, we were told that he has been arrested in some other FIR for which no notice was given which is mandatory under the law for the sections under which he has been arrested. Nor FIR copy is being given to us despite repeated requests," he said.
However, his arrest triggered criticism from several quarters. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "Every person exposing BJP's hate, bigotry and lies is a threat to them. Arresting one voice of truth will only give rise to a thousand more. Truth ALWAYS triumphs over tyranny. #DaroMat."
CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury demanded that Zubair be released immediately. "The Modi government is insecure & threatened by anything that exposes the fake hate machine of misinformation," he tweeted.
Senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted, "India’s few fact-checking services, especially Alt News, perform a vital service in our post-truth political environment, rife with disinformation. They debunk falsehoods whoever perpetrates them. To arrest @zoo_bear is an assault on truth. He should be released immediately."