Journalist Mohammad Zubair arrested in Delhi for 'hurting religious sentiments'

NEW DELHI: Journalist and Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair was arrested on Monday by the Delhi Police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, officials said.

He was apparently one of the first persons to tweet about Nupur Sharma's controversial remarks about prophet Muhammed which snowballed into a controversy.

Alt News Editor, Pratik Sinha tweeted saying that police informed the arrest of Zubair at 6.45 pm.

Please note. pic.twitter.com/gMmassggbx

— Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) June 27, 2022

It may be recalled that Sharma, the national spokesperson of BJP was suspended while Jindal, Media head of  Delhi unit of the party was expelled over their remarks on Prophet Mohammad.

Meanwhile, a case was earlier registered against Zubair under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, language etc) and 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code, K P S Malhotra, DCP (Cyber Crime), said.

Zubair joined the probe on Monday and after gathering sufficient evidence on record, he was arrested, Malhotra said.

He said Zubair is being produced before a magistrate for seeking police remand.

(With inputs from PTI)