Mohammed Zubair. (Source: Twitter/@zoo_bear)The Delhi High Court Wednesday granted relief to Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking website AltNews, by staying any coercive action against him in the FIR registered by Delhi Police.
Zubair was booked by Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell on the complaint of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) for “threatening and torturing a girl child through Twitter”. The FIR was registered on August 9 under Sections 67/67-A of the IT Act.
Justice Yogesh Khanna, after hearing a petition filed by Zubair seeking quashing of the FIR, also directed Twitter to co-operate with the police in the matter. The court has asked the police to submit a status report within 8 weeks.
Standing Counsel (Criminal), Delhi, Rahul Mehra assured the court that a copy of FIR would be supplied to Zubair.
In his petition, filed through advocate Gunjan Singh, Zubair had sought a direction for supply of the FIR copy to him and a stay on any coercive action in the matter. He also sought costs to the tune of Rs 50 lakh for harassing and defaming him, and action against NCPCR Chairperson Priyank Kanoongo and police official Jagdish Singh.
The complaints sent by NCPCR to police had referred to a tweet shared by Zubair on August 6, which had the photo of a minor girl, with her face blurred out, during an online spat he was having with a user – the picture in question was the user’s display picture.
Submitting that the allegations against him are false and frivolous, Zubair has said no offence is made out in the matter. “The petitioner merely shared an image of Jagdish Singh standing with a minor girl whose face was pixelated and calling Jagdish Singh out on his foul, shameful and abusive behaviour on social media,” read the petition.