A Muzaffarnagar resident has accused Alt News cofounder Mohammed Zubair of issuing threats to his life. Consequently, an FIR has been registered against Zubair under sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 192 (fabricating false evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The matter began with a report on the Israel-Palestine conflict by Sudarshan News on the 13th of May. As per the FIR, Zubair carried some anti-Sudarshan News content related to the report through electronic media. The complainant Ankur Rana called up Zubair to speak with him about the issue.
Zubair is accused to have resorted to abusing Rana on the call and threatened to murder him if Rana got involved with the matter. Rana approached the Police over the incident and subsequently , an FIR was registered.
Mohammed Zubair is also accused in an FIR registered in June by the police in Uttar Pradesh over a fake hate crime case. He is accused of trying to stoke communal tension by making false claims that elderly Muslim man was beaten up and forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
While Zubair, Rana Ayyub, The Wire, Salman Nizami, Maksoor Usmani, Sama Mohammad and Saba Naqvi were booked for spreading misleading and fake news, Twitter was booked for the lack of action against these seven.
The FIR was registered under Sections 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion etc.), 295-A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.