Allahabad High Court Extends Stay On Mohammed Zubair's Arrest Till January 27 In Yati Narsinghanand 'X' Post Case

Today, the Allahabad High Court extended the stay on the arrest of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair until January 27 in connection with an FIR against him over his alleged X Post 'X' (formerly Twitter) on Yati Narsinghanand. A bench of Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Yogendra Kumar Srivastava extended the relief as it allowed the State Government to verify the averments and documents filed along with a rejoinder by Zubair's counsel. Earlier, on January 6, Zubair was granted 10 days to file a rejoinder in response to the counter filed by the State Government.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. On December 20th, the HC, while orally observing that he is not a dreaded criminal, had stayed his arrest till January 6.Zubair had allegedly posted a thread of videos on October 3. The first tweet contained a video showing Yati Narsinghanand, the priest of Dasna Devi Temple, making alleged inflammatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad. He also tagged UP police, asking what actions had been taken against Yati. In his X Post, he called the alleged speech of Narsinghanand 'derogatory'.Pursuant to this, Dr Udita Tyagi, general secretary of the Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Trust, lodged an FIR against Zubuiar claiming that he had posted old and edited clips of the priest on X (formerly Twitter), containing Narsinghanand's alleged incendiary remarks on Prophet Muhammad, to incite radical sentiments against the controversial priest.Zubai was booked under sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 228 (fabricating false evidence), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 356(3) (defamation) and 351(2) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).Challenging the FIR, Zubair moved the HC, contending that his X post does not call for violence against Yati. He had merely alerted the police authorities about Narsinghanand's actions. He sought action as per law, and this could not amount to promoting disharmony or ill-will between two classes of people.During the previous hearing, which lasted for around 4 hours, the Uttar Pradesh government had submitted before the High Court that a series of X posts by Zubair on Yati Narsinghanand's alleged speech contained half-baked information and they damaged and threatened India's sovereignty and integrity.However, it is the case of Zubair that he was exercising his freedom of speech by referring to the alleged controversial speech of Yati Narsinghanand and highlighting his conduct not just him but many new articles and social media accounts posted about the same issue, and Zubair had not said anything different.Detailed coverage of the previous hearings in the matter :Why Create Social Disharmony? : Allahabad HC Questions Mohd Zubair For Posting On 'X' About Yati Narsinghanand Speech Instead Of Filing FIRMohd Zubair's 'X' Posts With Half-Baked Info Threatened India's Sovereignty, Promoted 'Feeling Of Separatist Activity': UP Govt To Allahabad HC. An 'X' thread of the hearing can be read here'Not A Dreaded Criminal': Allahabad HC Stays Arrest Of Mohd Zubair Till Jan 6 In Yati Narsinghanand 'X' Post Case

Allahabad High Court Extends Stay On Mohammed Zubair's Arrest Till January 27 In Yati Narsinghanand 'X' Post Case

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