Mohammed Zubair gets interim protection from arrest in Narsinghanand social media post case

The Allahabad High Court on Friday granted interim protection from arrest to Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in a case pertaining to a post on social media platform X about Hindutva supremacist Yati Narsinghanand, reported Live Law.

Observing that Zubair was not a “dreaded criminal”, a bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Nalin Srivastava granted him relief till January 6. He was also directed not to leave the country.

The bench asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file a detailed response to Zubair’s plea seeking protection from arrest.

Zubair was booked on October 7 for allegedly promoting enmity between religious groups with a post about Narsinghanand.

Narsinghanand, who is the priest of the Dasna Devi temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, reportedly made a derogatory comment about Prophet Muhammad during a sermon on September 29, sparking protests by Muslim groups in several cities.

On October 3, Zubair had shared a purported video of the speech on X and demanded legal action against Narsinghanand.

Several FIRs have also been filed against Narsinghanand for alleged hate speech targeting Muslims.

Following the registration of the FIR against Zubair, the Alt News co-founder moved the court seeking protection from arrest.

On Wednesday, the court had sought the response of the Uttar Pradesh government about the reason Zubair had been booked for the offence of endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India under...

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