On Tuesday, 18th February, during the hearing of the case against Mohammed Zubair in Yati Narsinghanand case, Uttar Pradesh government said that the state police had taken action against Yati Narsinghanand, and that the courts had granted him bail. The argument was presented in the Allahabad High Court in response to Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair’s appeal against the state police’s FIR over his “X” (formerly Twitter) post on Yati Narsinghanand’s allegedly “derogatory” speech.
The matter is before a panel consisting of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Yogendra Kumar Srivastava
According to the UP Government, which was represented by Additional Advocate General Manish Goyal, Zubair tried to stir the public by fabricating a storyline through his social media posts. The fact checker, AAG contended, had fueled the flames, and also questioned the timing of his posts.
Hearing commences
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) February 18, 2025
AAG Manish Goyal (for the state): The date of Yati's speech is 29th September, and the date of the tweet is 3rd October…here comes the element of mens rea because he says about his own will to post on social media#AllahabadHighCourt #MohammedZubair…
“The date of Yati’s speech is 29th September, and the date of the tweet is 3rd October. Here comes the element of mens rea (guilty mind) because he says about his own will to post on social media. So he says there is rampant disinformation on social media, so he makes the post. He is saying that the video was already there. He takes responsibility for the post. He says that I have checked it. Whereas, he argues that he was sitting in Bengaluru, and he doesn’t know what is happening in Ghaziabad. This is corroborated by the statement that he has given to the police,” Goyal contended.
AAG Goyal mentioned that the tweet was posted four days after the occurrence, rather than right away, and highlighted that Zubair started tweeting from 3rd October till the morning of 5th October. “So these dates become very relevant,” Goyal noted. “He says that no arrest was made, and weak sections were invoked against Yati Narsinghanand, but it is not like that. So to say that the police are not doing their job, and it was his (Zubair’s) duty is wrong. Police were doing their job, and it was the court granting him (Yati) bail,” he added.
Goyal further submitted that although Zubair acknowledged that Yati Narsinghanand had been arrested in eight FIRs, he attempted to portray that the authorities were supporting him and were bringing FIRs against him under weak sections, which was untrue. “You are annexing the news report (regarding Yati Narsinghanand’s bail) in the writ petition once an FIR is registered against you. You can file as an annexure to the petition but not post it (online),“ AAG Goyal conveyed.
According to Goyal, even though Zubair claimed to have relied on a piece of news from Global Bharat, his tweet and the article were significantly different. “There are other things in the speech as well. It is talking about illegal immigrants and other issues also, but the petitioner has picked up 4-5 lines and has shown the video,” he stated.
“All this has to be seen in the light of the mentality of a common Indian. What narrative is being shown? What will an Indian man think? Now, kindly see the timing of the speech, that is an important fact. 1st is regarding the deliberate intention of making the news. 2nd is claiming himself to a renowned global fact checker and 3rd is regarding how it will be perceived by a common man. We are sensitive. We are most sensitive to these things and the petitioner lordship is fully aware of this fact,” he pointed out.
“You are fully conscious and disseminating the information that the police are hiding this person, and filing an FIR under weak sections, whereas the FIRs have not been lodged under weak sections. There have been arrests which you have not disclosed. There are 29K reposts to his post. He reposted one of the posts, by doing this, he is adding fuel to the fire,” Goyal said, and even quoted Zubair’s tweets saying, “He is freely roaming out and spreading hate“ regarding Yati Narsinghanand.
AAG Goyal added, “It is being posted in the same thread. Then the tweet where Kiren Rijiju was tagged. This is like taking the law into his own hands, building a narrative and trying to incite people.“ He also read out sections leveled against Yati Narsinghanand. “Now, what is the weak section and what is the strong section has not been spelt out by the petitioner in the paragraph under reply. Section has not been spelt out by the petitioner in the paragraph under reply,” he stated.
“Now this perception is being created. A perception that is translated into a narrative and is being forwarded to the public at large,” Goyal replied when questioned if “there’s any authority regarding a weak section” by the court.
“Weak section is only a perception created by the petitioner being translated into a narrative, and then he says that he (Yati Narsinghanand) was on bail when he gave the speech. What were you doing, you did not mention that in your post,” he asked.
Additional Advocate General Manish Goyal also cited a post dated 5th October in which Alt News co-founder Zubair alleged that the police were doing nothing, after verifying the facts, thus, in addition to other areas of the country, Saharanpur, Bulandshahr, and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh are tense.
“All these events that started from the 3rd to the 5th show his intent. That is how it has a rippling effect, the cause and influence and the rippling effect on the common man. This is not news. This is not fact-checking. It is to develop a narrative,” he added.
Additionally, AAG Goyal emphasised that Zubair has more X followers than Alt News, and his account holds greater influence than anything else on his channel. “That’s why people follow you and they believe that what you are saying is true and even if it is a lie they believe it to be true. This is not the idea of freedom of speech. This is called the principle of diminished autonomy of the person voicing his freedom of speech and expression because he doesn’t have the same voice as you do,” he observed.
“Can it be his freedom of speech when the petitioner is critiquing,” inquired Justice Srivastava to which Goyal responded, “You posted a video of 2021 in 2024, which has already been deleted. There have been FIR for that, but you will play it again in 2024. You are like, no, I will play it again.“ He further asserted, “Fact finding would be mentioning the arrest and bail (of Yati Narsinghanand) for that video.“
Goyal called him a “person of influence” and reiterated, “He is saying that he is a co-founder of Alt News which has 3 lakh followers, and he has 15 lakh followers, so he is a person of influence,” and added that “his opinion carries a lot of weight.“ He stated that the petition clarified Zubair’s objective which he created in reaction to false information in the media, by his own admission and stressed, “The duty of the citizen should have been to point out that the FIR has been registered under these sections.”
Additional Advocate General Manish Goyal pointed out, “When things are said with regard to the Constitution of India, the escalation is to the extent that it goes beyond Section 196, and once it goes beyond Section 196 it reaches Section 152 BNS,” and referred to Zubair’s post with “samvidhan ki tehrvi” words.
“I read somewhere that a piece of news which is older than 24 hrs is not news, it has become scandalous. The opposition says random things and also burnt the constitution. The burning of the Constitution is an offence,” AAG Goyal also noted. The hearing was then concluded and Zubair’s interim protection which was earlier extended till 18th February was moved to 19th February.
Notably the Ghaziabad Police filed a formal case against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in October 2024, charging that he encouraged animosity amongst religious groups after an associate of Yati Narsinghanand’s filed a complaint. Mohammed Zubair filed a challenge in the high court against the FIR, which eventually included the offense of harming the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India under Section 152 of the BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita).
