Allahabad High Court Extends Stay On Mohammed Zubair's Arrest Till February 17 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 February 17 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.On January 16, the State Government sought time to verify the averments and documents filed along with a rejoinder filed by Zubair's counsel.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.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.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 February 17 In Yati Narsinghanand 'X' Post Case

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