Allahabad High Court seeks State response on plea by Mohammed Zubair to quash FIR

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday sought the response of the Uttar Pradesh government on why it has booked Alt News journalist and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair for the offence of endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India under Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)..Zubair has been booked for a tweet he put on X saying that a speech delivered by Ghaziabad Dasna Devi Temple priest Yati Narsinghanand was "derogatory and hateful".The Court was hearing a plea moved by Zubair seeking protection from arrest in a case filed by supporters of Narsinghanand.A Bench of Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Ram Manohar N Mishra directed the Additional Advocate General (AAG) to file a counter affidavit, explaining how the offence of Section 152 BNS could be invoked in the matter.The Court will hear the matter again on December 20.Senior Advocate Dileep Gupta along with Advocate Tanmay Sadh appeared for Zubair.AAG Manish Goyal and Advocate Pankaj Srivastava appeared for the State..During the hearing today, the Court also questioned Zubair's decision to post the matter on social media instead of filing an FIR or seeking an appropriate legal remedy.The Court further remarked that the current FIR against Zubair appears to be a mere counter-blast against him..The FIR was lodged consequent to a complaint filed by supporters of Yati Narsinghanand, the priest of Ghaziabad's Dasna Devi Temple over a tweet Zubair had posted on X.On September 29, Narsinghanand, who has been charged with hate speech on previous occasions, delivered a public speech in which he allegedly made remarks against Prophet Muhammad. Zubair posted a tweet on X calling the speech "derogatory and hateful".Several first information reports (FIRs) were then registered against Narsinghanand in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana for inciting communal hatred and hurting religious sentiments. His aides claimed that the was taken away by the cops.Subsequently, there were protests at the Dasna Devi Temple.The FIR against Zubair stemmed from a complaint filed by Udita Tyagi, General Secretary of the Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Foundation..Tyagi alleged that on October 3, Zubair shared an old video clip of Narsinghanand with the intent to incite violence against him.A complaint was lodged by Tyagi blaming Zubair, Arshad Madani and Asaduddin Owaisi for violent protests at Dasna Devi Mandi.The Ghaziabad Police then charged Zubair under Sections 196 (promoting enmity on religious grounds), 228 (fabricating false evidence), 299 (outraging religious feelings by insulting religion or religious beliefs), 356(3) (defamation), and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the BNS.Subsequently, the offence under Section 152 of BNS was also added.Zubair then moved the High Court against the FIR, seeking protection from arrest.In his plea, Zubair has stated that he had posted on X to highlight Yati Narsinghanand's repeated communal remarks and derogatory comments about women and senior politicians.The FIR against him is a malicious attempt to prevent him from exposing Narsinghanand's criminal activities, Zubair has claimed.Earlier, a Bench of Justices Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Prashant Kumar had recused from the case.