Delhi police on Tuesday arrested journalist Mohammed Zubair, one of the founders of the fact-checking website AltNews, on charges of hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity.

Ironically, the same police force, which reports to the Union home ministry headed by Amit Shah, has not yet arrested the now-axed BJP spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Navin Jindal for their derogatory comments against Prophet Mohammed earlier this month.

Sharma’s comment had provoked a backlash in West Asia, landed India in the biggest diplomatic crisis in recent memory and triggered protests in several parts of the country. At least two youths were killed in India in alleged police firing after some of the protests turned violent.

Sources said Zubair, who has used his Twitter handle @zoo_bear to relentlessly call out the fake narratives of the Right wing, had been under the scanner ever since he tweeted a video clip that showed Nupur making the derogatory statements.

Nupur Sharma. File picture

The proof had made it difficult for the Narendra Modi government to sweep the issue under the carpet when several Gulf nations took note and expressed outrage. The Modi government had little option but to distance itself from the then BJP spokespersons’ comments and later suspend Sharma and expel Jindal.

Founded in 2017 as a non-profit, AltNews is among the world’s most prominent fact-checking outlets. Its founders have routinely faced online trolling and police cases lodged by Right-wing groups over the past few years.

The complaint on which Zubair has been arrested is not directly linked to the Sharma clip that tied the hands of the Modi government.

Sources said the case against Zubair was based on a tweet by him that came to the police’s notice after a Twitter handle called Hanuman Bhakt @balajikijaiin expressed anger at it.

Zubair’s colleague and AltNews co-founder Pratik Sinha tweeted a little after midnight that the duty magistrate gave custody for only one day although the police had sought custody for seven days.

“A case was earlier registered under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth and language) and 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) of the IPC against Zubair,” said K.P.S. Malhotra, DCP (cyber crime).

Zubair joined the probe on Monday. After gathering sufficient evidence on record, the police arrested him, Malhotra said. He said the police were producing Zubair before a magistrate to seek his custody.

Sinha tweeted: “Zubair was called today by special cell, Delhi, for investigation in a 2020 case for which he already had protection against arrest from the high court. However, today at around 6.45pm, we were told that he has been arrested in some other FIR for which no notice was given, which is mandatory under law for the sections under which he has been arrested. Nor FIR copy is being given to us despite repeated requests.

“After the medical examination, Zubair is being taken to an undisclosed location. Neither Zubair’s lawyers nor I are being told where. We are in the police van with him. No police person is wearing any name tag.”

A former Delhi police officer told this newspaper: “Zubair, who has been routinely calling out hate mongers belonging to the ruling party, has now been arrested for hate speech. Many of those whom he had exposed, including Nupur Sharma, are roaming freely.

“Calling out hate mongers is now a criminal offence in India. Nothing can be more ironical than Prime Minister Modi two days ago in Germany describing the Emergency as a ‘black spot’ on Indian democracy.”

The old case Sinha referred to dates back to September 2020 when the Delhi police had booked Zubair under the Pocso Act after he responded to an abusive message from a Twitter user. Delhi High Court later restrained the police from taking any coercive action against Zubair.

Quoting Delhi police’s senior officials, the news agency, ANI, tweeted: “Present case registered on basis of a post on Twitter by handle Hanuman Bhakt @balajikijaiin where he showed his anger against another Twitter handle in the name of Mohammed Zubair regarding the post….

“The said post of Zubair containing picture and words against a particular religious community are highly provocative and done deliberately which are more than sufficient to incite hatred among people which can be detrimental for maintenance of public tranquillity.”

DCP Malhotra said the Delhi police were alerted by a Twitter handle which said Zubair had earlier made an objectionable tweet and his followers and social media entities had amplified and generated debate and hate mongering in the thread. “He was examined in this case and his role was found objectionable. He was evasive on the questions which warranted his custodial interrogation to unravel the conspiracy in this matter. Accordingly, he has been arrested and is being produced before a court for seeking police custody remand.”

Opposition leaders and many social media users expressed solidarity with Zubair and condemned his arrest.

Congress MP 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.”

Journalist Rohini Singh tweeted: “Busting fake news and calling out bigotry peddled by sympathisers and office bearers of the ruling party is a crime in New India. Another crime is being Muslim and speaking out. @zoo_bear committed both.”

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said the Delhi police were acting in a vengeful manner as AltNews had been exposing the government’s bogus claims.

“AltNews & zoo_bear have been in the forefront of exposing the bogus claims of the Vishguru, who has struck back with a vengeance characteristic of him. Delhi police, reporting to the Union Home Minister, has long lost any pretensions of professionalism and independence,” he said in a tweet.

Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan said the government “is going after those who are exposing hate speech”.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor termed Zubair’s arrest an “assault on truth” and demanded his immediate release.

“Strongly condemn the arrest of one of the world’s finest journalists @zoo_bear who exposes the BJP’s #FakeNews factory every single day,” Trinamul MP Derek O’Brien tweeted.