Accused of inciting riots in the race for Nobel Peace: Zubair nominated to stop hate speech; 7 cases on him, 22 days in jail

The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on 7 October. According to Time magazine, two Indian citizens are also among the people or institutions whose names are in the race for the Nobel Peace Prize. Their names are Prateek Sinha and Mohammad Zubair. Both run a fact-checking website named 'Alt News. Both are also directors of Pravda Media House, the company that runs Alt News.

Mohammad Zubair has been in constant controversies. He was arrested for inciting religious sentiments. After spending 22 days in jail, he is currently out on interim bail from the Supreme Court. The case was filed against Zubair by Deepak Sharma, the founder of Rashtra Swabhiman Dal in Delhi. In this, there were allegations of Zubair making indecent remarks against Hindu gods and goddesses on social media and hurting the sentiments of Hindus by posting controversial pictures.

Time magazine wrote – Zubair tried to stop hate speech

Giving information about the nomination of Zubair and Prateek, Time magazine wrote – Prateek Sinha and Mohammad Zubair are constantly fighting misinformation in India. Here the Hindu nationalist party BJP is often accused of discrimination against Muslims. Sinha and Zubair have done the job of debunking the rumors and fake news circulating on social media. At the same time, they have been curbing hate speech.

The magazine further wrote – Indian authorities arrested Zubair in June for posting a meme, which he had tweeted four years ago. Journalists around the world condemned the arrest and argued that it was a retaliation against the fact-checking being carried out on their behalf. The Editors Guild of India said in a statement on June 28, "The vigilance of Alt News has been opposed by those spreading propaganda to polarize the society and incite nationalist sentiments." The Committee to Protect Journalists demanded Zubair's release, saying, "This is a major blow to the freedom of the press in India. By doing so, the government has created an unsafe environment for those reporting on communal issues."

The arrest was made on a controversial tweet related to the 2018

Zubair shared a clip of filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee's film 'Kisi Se Na Kehna'. In this, a board is visible outside a hotel, on which Hanuman Hotel was written in Hindi. Zubair wrote in the caption of this post Before 2014 Honeymoon Hotel, After 2014 Hanuman Hotel. Through this post, Zubair is accused of inciting religious sentiments. After the FIR in the same case on June 27, the Special Cell of Delhi Police arrested Zubair on June 28.

Arrest on June 28, bail on July 20

The Special Cell of Delhi Police was arrested on 28 June 2022 under section 153/295 of IPC. On July 20, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Zubair with conditions. The court had said three things while granting bail, which you can read in the graphic below

Total 7 FIRs on Zubair, out of which 6 in UP only

A total of 7 FIRs are registered against Zubair, out of which 6 are in Uttar Pradesh. He was sent to custody for the cases registered in Delhi, Sitapur, Hathras, and Lakhimpur. Zubair had reached a Delhi court for bail in the 2018 tweet case, but on July 14, Hathras court sent him to 14-day judicial custody for hurting religious sentiments. According to this, Zubair was to remain in jail till July 27.

1. Muzaffarnagar: In July 2021, Ankur Rana filed a case of threatening to kill Zubair at Charthawal police station. Mohammad Zubair wrote a social media post on the news of Sudarshan News regarding the Israel-Palestine dispute. Zubair had referred to a graphic as the mosque of Medina, which caused a lot of controversies. In this case, an FIR was registered against Zubair under sections 192, 504, and 506 of IPC.

2. Ghaziabad: In June 2021, a case was registered against Zubair at Loni Border Police Station. It was alleged that Zubair had posted a video of an old Muslim man beaten up on the internet and wrote that this man was beaten up by Hindu youths for calling him Jai Shri Ram. Later it was revealed that the man was beaten up by some Muslim youths over a dispute over making amulets. In this case, an FIR was registered against Zubair, journalist Rana Ayyub, The Wire, Salman Nizami, Maskoor Usmani, Dr. Sama Mohammed, Saba Naqvi along with Twitter INC, and Twitter Communication India Pvt Ltd. An FIR was registered against them under sections 153, 153-A, 295-A, 505, 120-B, and 34 of the IPC.

3. Hathras: In the complaint filed in the Kotwali of Hathras in June 2022, a case was registered against Zubair under sections 153A, 295A, and 298 of the IPC. Zubair was accused of inciting religious sentiments.

Hathras: A case was also registered in Sikandararau police station regarding a 2018 case. It is alleged that after Zubair's provocative post, there was a lot of ruckus after Friday prayers in Purdilnagar. The miscreants had pelted stones at the police. In this case, a case was registered under sections 147, 149, 153A, 353, 188, and 120B of IPC by making Zubair an accused.

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