Journalist Mohammed Zubair under one day police custody

CHENNAI: Mohammed Zubair, a co-founder of Alt News, has been placed on a one-day police remand after allegedly offending a specific community's religious sensitivities on Monday.

Pratik Sinha, a co-founder of Alt News, was also there when Mohammed Zubair was detained last night on suspicion of inciting hatred and insulting religion, who was charged with these offences.

According to reports, Zubair was brought before on-duty magistrate Ajay Narwal around 10.30 p.m. in a makeshift court at a parking garage of an apartment complex in Burari. According to KPS Malhotra, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Cell), a case against Zubair was filed on June 20 under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the basis of religion, race, place of birth, language, etc.) and 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings).

Police said that a complaint was made against the co-founder due to a tweet sent by Zubair via Twitter. He was summoned for questioning today, and the Delhi Authorities Special Cell's IFSO team then reportedly arrested him, according to the police.

He avoided answering questions and neither contributed the technological tools required for the investigation's goals nor actively participated in them.

According to reports, Zubair's social media post offended religious emotions after an image (in a tweet) showed how the name of a hotel had been altered from "Honeymoon hotel" to "Hanuman hotel."

In a later statement, the police claimed that Zubair's Twitter followers had magnified the remark, which had "created a series of debates/hate mongering."

Police assert that after conducting their investigation, Zubair's actions were "questionable" and "warranted his custodial interrogation."