The Allahabad High Court has refused to quash the FIR filed by the Uttar Pradesh Police against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair for his tweets on Yati Narsinghanand, Bar and Bench reported.
However, a bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Yogendra Kumar Srivastav reportedly said that the interim protection from arrest granted to Zubair in December 2024 will continue to operate until filing of the chargesheet.
Zubair was directed to cooperate with the investigation.
Zubair stands accused of endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India under Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita after his tweet saying that a speech delivered by Yati Narsinghanand was hateful.
In October 2024, the general secretary of the Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Foundation filed a police complaint against Zubair alleging he had shared an “old” clip of the priest to incite violence.
The Uttar Pradesh police swiftly booked Zubair in an FIR under charges related to promoting enmity, outraging religious feelings, defamation and criminal intimidation. Charges for “endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India” were added later.
Zubair then moved the high court to quash the FIR. In December, the Allahabad High Court stayed his arrest. At the time, the court said he was “not a dreaded criminal, and his immediate arrest is not necessary”.
This isn’t the first FIR against Zubair. Here’s a look at some cases that illustrate the Alt News co-founder’s role in flagging hate speech online.
The Dasna priest, Yati Narsinghanand, on the other hand, has repeatedly courted controversy for his hate speeches despite multiple FIRs against him. To know more about his ecosystem of hate, read this.
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