Uttar Pradesh court sends Zubair to 14-day judicial custody

Hathras: A local court in Uttar Pradesh has sent Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair to 14-days judicial custody on Thursday.

Zubair was presented in the court in a case registered against him under section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, etc.), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class), 298 (Uttering, words, etc with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) of Indian Penal Code and section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act.

The Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Hathras had recently issued B warrant against the fact-checker.

The Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a two-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by IG Dr Preetinder Singh, to probe six cases lodged against Zubair in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar and Hathras.

A Delhi court will hear today a bail plea moved by Zubair in a case related to an “objectionable tweet” he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity.

On Tuesday, Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala adjourned the hearing after the prosecution sought time for a detailed argument in the matter.

Earlier, the Supreme Court extended the interim bail of Zubair till further orders in a case lodged against him in the Sitapur district for allegedly outraging religious sentiments.

The FIR was lodged on June 1 on a complaint filed by Hindu Sher Sena district president Bhagwan Sharan for a tweet by Zubair in which he called three Hindu seers — Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati, Bajrang Muni and Anand Swaroop – “hate-mongers”.