Mohammed Zubair, Alt News co-founder, was arrested on Monday. (PTI Photo)
Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, who was arrested on Monday, was produced before a court in Delhi today in a case related to an "objectionable tweet". An FIR was registered against him over the contentious tweet he posted in 2018.
Here are 5 things to know about Mohammed Zubair:
Mohammed Zubair started Alt News with former engineer Pratik Sinha in 2017. It rose to prominence for combating fake news and misinformation in the country.
He has more than half a million followers on Twitter where Mr Zubair keeps sharing fact checks from Alt News. Days before his arrest, he had flagged a video of now-suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma's provocative remarks against Prophet Mohammed on a TV show.
The team of Alt News has also written a book titled "India Misinformed: The True Story", which was published by HarperCollins in 2019.
The FIR against Mr Zubair was lodged on June 20 based on the complaint filed by the Duty Officer of the Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of the Delhi Police Special Cell which tackles cybercrimes. The officer, according to his complaint, noticed a post by the Twitter handle '@balajikijaiin' earlier this month objecting to Mr Zubair's 2018 tweet.
Mr Zubair has been booked under Sections 153A (promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) and 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), according to Delhi Police.
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