Delhi Police Created False Disclosure Statement To Raid My Residence; I Don't Post Content To Trigger Religious Sentiments: Mohd Zubair To High Court

Alt News Co-Founder Mohammed Zubair has informed the Delhi High Court that he has not made any disclosure statement to the investigating officer or any police officer during his custody or at any time during the course of investigation in the 2018 tweet case.

In his reply to the status report filed by Delhi Police last month, Zubair has said that any disclosures relied upon by the police are wholly false, concocted and inadmissible in law.

"As such, all consequent proceedings including search and seizure premised upon the concocted and false disclosures are also illegal being extraneous to law and admissible in evidence," he has argued.

Zubair has specifically denied the police claim that he disclosed that the laptop and mobile phone used by him for posting the alleged content was at his residence. He said he "clearly and specifically told the police that he no longer has the mobile phone with which the tweet was made as same was lost, for which a report was lodged with the Crime Branch in Bengaluru.

"Further, the tweet in question clearly states that it was posted from an Android device (mobile phone), so it has no connection to any laptop," Zubair has said in the reply

Arguing that the action of the investigating officer in creating false disclosure statements to sustain investigation is "subversion of law and makes a mockery of due process", Zubair said the purported disclosures have been prepared while he was in custody, without his knowledge. 

"The statement attributed to me as a disclosure is manifestly wrong, false and concocted, to fabricate a non-existent ground to unlawfully raid my residence and seize my laptop and hard-disk, which I use for my journalistic fact-checking work. The said search and seizure from my residence was thus carried out with malafide reasons extraneous to the need of investigation," the reply states.

Zubair has also denied the police claim that he posts tweets to gain popularity.

"I categorically and specifically deny that in order to gain popularity I post content that triggers religious sentiments. I am a fact checker and I post content on social media debunking fake news, misinformation and disinformation of all kind, and my work is not limited to any particular kind of posts, nor do I post content for popularity or any other material gain," he has has said in the reply.

The reply has been filed by Zubair in his plea praying that police be asked to return his devices or document, which are unrelated to the investigation of the FIR.

Delhi Police in September had said that Zubair's devices, which were seized during investigation, are under analysis with the Forensic Science Laboratory, Rohini and that he can approach the lower court for their release on superdari on completion of the analysis.

It was also said that the data is to be recovered and analyzed from the seized devices with respect to 2018 tweet and "other similar natured tweets" done by Mohd Zubair, if retrieved.

The Delhi High Court had sought the response of city police in the plea on July 27.

The Supreme Court had earlier granted bail to Zubair in all the six FIRs registered by the Uttar Pradesh police in different districts over his tweets and clubbed those cases with the Delhi FIR.

The apex court had observed that the criminal justice system was "relentlessly employed against" the fact-checker and that he was trapped in a "vicious cycle of the criminal process".

Zubair was earlier arrested in the case registered by Delhi Police under Section 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, etc.) and Section 295 (Injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) of the Indian Penal Code.

Later, Section 295A along with Section 201 and 120B of Indian Penal Code and Section 35 of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 were also invoked against Zubair.

As per Delhi Police, the case was registered after a complaint was received from a Twitter handle, wherein it was alleged that Zubair had tweeted a "questionable image with a purpose to deliberately insult the god of a particular religion."

According to the FIR, Zubair's tweet from 2018 about renaming of a 'Honeymoon Hotel' after Hindu god Hanuman was an insult of their religion.

The FIR alleged that the words and the picture used by Zubair against a particular religious community were highly provocative and more than sufficient to incite feeling of hatred amongst people which can be detrimental for maintenance of public tranquillity in the society.

After the Delhi police FIR, Zubair was also taken into custody by the UP Police in relation to the FIRs registered against him regarding other tweets. 

Case Title: Mohammed Zubair v. State