Following the arrest of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair by Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, so-called liberals came out in his support and demanded his release. One of the arguments they put forward was that the netizen whose tweet initiated action against Zubair had a low follower count.
Pro-AAP propagandist YouTuber Dhruv Rathee questioned the validity of the complaint because the user had only one follower before Zubair was arrested. He said, “According to Delhi Police, Zubair is arrested because an anonymous Twitter account with one follower complained that his sentiments are hurt. But Komal Sharma couldn’t be arrested despite video evidence of violence. What a joke this whole system is!”
Newslaundry columnist Meghnad tracked when the account was created and pointed out that the tweet on which action was taken against Zubair was a screenshot from a Hindi movie from 1983. He said, “Here’s what Delhi police is acting on. An anonymous account is created in Oct 2021. Puts out a single tweet in Jun 2022 complaining that Zubair has insulted Hindus. The “hurtful” Tweet is from Mar 2018. The screenshot in Zubair’s tweet is from a 1983 move.”
There are a few points that need to be mentioned here. First of all, it was not just the screenshot but also the text Zubair had put out with it that made it derogatory. Secondly, he completely ignored the fact that the demand for action against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma was called because of the text written hundreds of years ago in Islamic scriptures. If the action can be demanded on something that was written centuries ago, why not someone could demand action for something that was written five years ago?
Another Twitter user Katyusha user also drew conclusions over the low follower count of the account. She said, “This is the basis on which Zubair was apparently arrested!! One follower handle claimed his sentiments were hurt in his only tweet. The account was obviously created to tweet this. The whole thing was engineered!”
This is also untrue since multiple Twitter users have expressed their religious feelings were hurt by the mockery of Hindu gods and goddesses by Mohammed Zubair.
Law does not check social media followers
Everyone, who has been raising doubts over the account that demanded action against Zubair because of the lower follower count, is missing out on the fact that there is no condition in the law that requires someone to have a large follower base on social media to file a complaint. Law follows its process irrespective of the person’s status on social media.
Mohammed Gurfan, who filed a complaint against Nupur Sharma, has no Twitter presence. At least OpIndia counts not found any trace of Mohammed Gurfan on Twitter, who had claimed Sharma’s remarks hurt his religious sentiments. Going by the logic laid down by so-called liberals, Gurfan should have been shooed away by the Police, and no complaint should have been filed against Sharma as Gurfan has zero followers on Twitter which was even less compared to Twitter user Balajikijaiin.
Since Delhi Police named balajikijaiin in its statement, the Twitter user has gained almost 2,000 followers on the social media platform. He has also demanded action against Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
