Mohammed Zubair Faces Additional Charges in FIR: Ghaziabad Police Adds Sections on National Integrity and IT Act Violation

Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair is facing new additional charges in a recently filed FIR by the Ghaziabad police. With this, the charges which he faced were added following the petition filed by Zubair to the Allahabad High Court and now include sections under the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act. The new charges which include Sections 152 on 25 November are related to Endangering national integrity and violations of Information Technology Act.

The FIR, which was filed on October 8, was based on a complaint by Udita Tyagi, General Secretary of the Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Trust. It claims that Zubair posted a video clip of a previous event where Narsinghanand was participating, with the intent of inciting violence against the Muslim community. Zubair, in defense, said he did not promote violence but rather alerted the law enforcement authorities about Narsinghanand's actions and requested legal action.

The Allahabad High Court is currently hearing the petition by Zubair, seeking the cancellation of the FIR and protection against coercive action. Zubair has stated that sharing the video, which was already in public domain, cannot be considered defamation or incitement to violence. He has further challenged the provisions under Section 196 of the IPC, dealing with promoting hostility between different groups on religious grounds.

The petition further noted that Narsinghanand was already out on bail in another hate speech case and was restrained from making any statement that could cause communal disharmony. Despite all these claims, the police have gone ahead to file charges against Zubair, which has added more controversy to the case.