Ghaziabad attack video: Karnataka High Court issues notice in Mohammed Zubair transit anticipatory bail plea

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued notice in a transit anticipatory bail plea moved by co-founder of fact-checking portal AltNews, Mohammed Zubair in an FIR registered by the Uttar Pradesh Police over his tweets on the assault on a Muslim man in Ghaziabad..A Single Judge Bench of Justice Mohammed Nawaz issued notice in the bail application..The Court was informed that two days ago, the UP Police had served Zubair notice under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) seeking his presence before the investigating officer on June 28 to record his statement in relation to the FIR..The petition seeking transit bail states,“That in the absence of a transit anticipatory bail, the result would be that another State’s Police could arrest the Petitioner from their home State without them having the opportunity to apply for anticipatory bail at all. The only option then left would be to apply for regular bail once he is arrested and taken to the State in which the case is registered.”.Zubair further claimed that he was not a threat to society, nor was there any just cause warranting his immediate arrest..The matter will be next heard on June 29..Zubair and others were name in an FIR registered at Loni Border Police Station, Ghaziabad, for offences punishable under Sections 153 (provoking to cause riots), 153A (promoting enmity between religious groups), 295A (insulting religious beliefs), 505 (statements inducing public mischief) & 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code..The FIR was registered in the backdrop of a video wherein an elderly Muslim man was asked to shave his beard and was forced to chant "Vande Mataram" and "Jai Shri Ram"..However, the Uttar Pradesh Police ruled out any "communal angle" and said that Sufi Abdul Samad, the elderly man, was attacked by six men who were unhappy over the tabeez (amulets) he had sold them..The FIR stated that the accused circulated a video of the incident on their Twitter handles without checking its authenticity, and that they gave the video a communal angle and intended to incite communal hatred between religious communities..The police also stated that the views expressed while sharing the videos weren't individual opinions; rather they were shared with a clear intention, and the sharing of the video indicates a criminal conspiracy..This apart, the FIR states that this is not the first time the accused have tried to peddle fake and misleading news on social media..Journalist Rana Ayyub, who was also named as an accused in the same FIR, was granted transit anticipatory bail by the Bombay High Court yesterday..[BREAKING] Ghaziabad attack video: Bombay High Court grants Rana Ayyub protection from arrest for four weeks.Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.