Narsinghanand 'X' Posts Case | Allahabad High Court Extends Stay On Mohammed Zubair's Arrest Till March 3
Today, the Allahabad High Court once again extended the stay on the arrest of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair until March 3 (Monday) in connection with an FIR against him over alleged 'X' Post (formerly Twitter) on Yati Narsinghanand's 'derogatory' speech.A bench of Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Yogendra Kumar Srivastava extended the relief after the counsel for the State sought...
Today, the Allahabad High Court once again extended the stay on the arrest of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair until March 3 (Monday) in connection with an FIR against him over alleged 'X' Post (formerly Twitter) on Yati Narsinghanand's 'derogatory' speech.
A bench of Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Yogendra Kumar Srivastava extended the relief after the counsel for the State sought an adjournment. The matter was taken up today after the hearing in the matter couldn't conclude on the 19th Feb and the same was adjourned on the 24th Feb.
In the previous hearings, the government, led by Additional Advocate General Manish Goyal, argued before the HC that Zubair had created a narrative through his X posts and attempted to incite the public. He also questioned the timing of Zubair's 'X' posts, arguing that the fact checker had added fuel to the fire.
More about the state's arguments here: 'X' Posts Case | 'Police Took Action Against Narsinghanand; Zubair Built Narrative, Tried To Incite People': UP Govt In Allahabad HC. Read a thread on X about Govt's arguments here and here.
On the other hand, the Senior Counsel (Advocate Dilip Kumar) appearing for Zubair has been contending before the Division bench that Zubair's Posts were made as part of his professional obligation as a fact checker and that such posts do not amount to any offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita or the Indian Penal Code.
One of the contentions of Zubair's counsel is that my posting on X, his client exercised his freedom of speech by referring to the alleged controversial speech of Yati Narsinghanand and highlighting his conduct, and not just him, but many new articles and social media accounts had posted about the same issue.
For the uninitiated, Zubair is facing an FIR lodged by the Ghaziabad Police in October 2024, accusing him of promoting enmity among religious groups following a complaint by an associate of controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand. Zubair has moved the HC, challenging the FIR, under which the offence of Section 152 BNS [Act endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India] was added later on.
He also submitted that no content of his posts was beyond his right to speech and expression and that he was merely asking the police authorities as to what action is contemplated against the maker of the alleged 'derogatory' speech pursuant to the lodging of the FIR.
More details of Zubair's arguments here: Yati Narsinghanand Case | Posted On 'X' As Part Of My Professional Obligation, No Offence Committed Under BNS/IPC: Mohd Zubair To Allahabad HC.
It is Zubair's case that by posting a thread of videos on October 3 featuring Yati Narsinghanand's allegedly 'inflammatory' remarks about Prophet Mohammad, and later sharing other tweets with his various controversial speeches, Zubair aimed to highlight Narsinghanand's provocative statements and urge the police authorities to take strict action against him.
The complainant, Udita Tyagi, on the other hand, blamed Zubair for sharing Yati's old video clips with the intent of inciting violence by Muslims. She also alleges that due to Zubair's tweets, violent protests were held at Dasna Devi Mandir in Ghaziabad.
