A Delhi court on Tuesday extended by four days the custodial interrogation of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair who has been charged with hurting religious sentiments with reference to a tweet he had posted in 2018.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria passed the order after hearing arguments from Delhi police as well as the accused.
Police had sought an extension of Zubair's custody by five days.
In the court, Zubair defended himself saying, as quoted by ndtv.com. "I have been arrested because I have been challenging people who are influential."
The police produced Zubair before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria on the expiry of his one-day custodial interrogation.
Delhi police on Tuesday arrested 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.
Editors Guild, Press Club condemn Alt News co-founder's arrest
New Delhi: The Editors Guild of India and the Press Club of India on Tuesday described the arrest of Alt News co-founder Muhammad Zubair on charges of hurting religious sentiments as "extremely disturbing" and demanded his immediate release.
Both the media bodies pointed out that the action against Zubair came on a day when India joined G7 and four other countries to protect free speech, "online and offline".
"It is apparent that Alt News' alert vigilance was resented by those who use disinformation as a tool to polarise society and rake nationalist sentiments," the guild said in a statement here.
Zubair was arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on Monday on charges of promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and deliberate acts to outrage religious feelings.
"Zubair has been arrested under sections 153 and 295 of the Indian Penal Code. This is extremely disturbing because Zubair and his website Alt News have done some exemplary work over the past few years in identifying fake news and countering disinformation campaigns, in a very objective and factual manner," the guild said.
It demanded that the Delhi Police release Zubair immediately.
"This is necessary to buttress the commitments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the G7 meet in Germany to ensure a resilient democracy by protecting online and offline content," the guild said.
The Press Club of India said: "The action by the Delhi Police in hastily arresting Muhammad Zubair showed the blatant violation of the country's commitment on the global platform given by none other than the prime minister himself."
Earlier, a body of digital media organisations had condemned Zubair's arrest and asked the Delhi Police to withdraw the case against him immediately.
In a democracy, where every individual possesses the right to exercise the freedom of speech and expression, it is unjustifiable that such stringent laws are used as tools against journalists, who have been accorded the role of playing a watchdog against the misuse of the institutions of the State, a statement issued by the DIGIPUB said.
"The use of such stringent laws as tools against journalists who are considered the fourth pillar of democracy must be stopped. We stand with Zubair," it added.
