Lucknow, Nov 27 – The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday was informed that two additional charges have been added to the FIR lodged against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, including Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which criminalizes acts endangering India’s sovereignty, unity, and integrity.
The FIR was initially filed by Ghaziabad police last month following a complaint by Udita Tyagi, general secretary of the Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Trust. Tyagi alleged that Zubair’s October 3 social media post shared an old video of hatemonger Narsinghanand’s speech with the intent to incite violence by Muslims against the controversial Hindu leader.
The FIR initially invoked provisions of the BNS, including Section 196 (promoting enmity between groups on religious grounds), Section 228 (fabricating false evidence), Section 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), Section 356(3) (defamation), and Section 351(2) (criminal intimidation).
On November 25, the High Court directed the investigating officer (IO) to file an affidavit clarifying the sections of law applicable to the case. On Monday, the IO submitted that Section 152 BNS and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act have been added to the FIR.
Zubair has moved the High Court seeking to quash the FIR and for protection from coercive action. He contended in his plea that his post merely highlighted Narsinghanand’s remarks and sought police action against the Hindu leader for alleged derogatory statements, arguing that this did not amount to promoting disharmony or ill-will.
The petition also challenged the defamation charge, arguing that sharing publicly available content does not constitute defamation. Zubair further pointed out that Narsinghanand, at the time of the alleged remarks, was on bail in another hate speech case, with conditions prohibiting him from making statements that could promote communal disharmony.
The High Court has directed the investigating officer to provide a detailed affidavit regarding the charges ahead of the next hearing.
(Inputs from reports)
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