New Delhi police on Monday arrested the Muslim cofounder of a fact-checking Web site, accusing him of insulting religious beliefs on Twitter, a network of digital media organizations said, condemning it as an attempt to harass him for his journalism.
Mohammed Zubair, who cofounded Alt News and regularly tweets on rising marginalization of the Muslim minority in the country, was arrested under two sections of a law related to maintaining religious harmony, the DIGIPUB association said.
Alt News’ other cofounder, Pratik Sinha, said on Twitter no notice was given to Zubair before his arrest.
“He is currently detained inside a police bus in Burari for more than an hour,” Sinha said, referring to a New Delhi neighborhood where Zubair was to be produced before a magistrate at his residence to authorize the journalist’s remand.
A New Delhi Police spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Calls to their office telephone went unanswered.
ANI reported that Zubair was arrested based on a complaint from a Twitter account that said he insulted Hindus in a 2018 post commenting on the renaming of a hotel after the Hindu monkey god Hanuman.
“Journalist Zubair who routinely busted fake news, exposed the hate machinery in India has just been arrested,” said Rana Ayyub, another Muslim journalist who often incurs the wrath of Hindu hardliners. “The country is punishing those who reported, documented the decline.”
Ten human rights organizations said on World Press Freedom Day last month that Indian authorities were increasingly picking on journalists and online critics for their criticism of government policies and practices.
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