Allahabad HC bench recuses from hearing Mohammed Zubair's plea against FIR over 'X' post
Prayagraj: Allahabad High Court Justices Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Prashant Kumar recused themselves on Tuesday from hearing a petition filed by fact-checker Mohammed Zubair. The plea challenges an FIR lodged by the Ghaziabad Police, alleging that Zubair promoted enmity among religious groups through a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The FIR, filed by Udita Tyagi, General Secretary of the Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Trust, accuses Zubair of sharing edited clips of controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand's past programme on October 3, purportedly to provoke violence by Muslims against the priest. The complaint also claims that Zubair’s post, which referred to Narsinghanand's remarks as derogatory, aimed to incite radical sentiments.
Zubair has been booked under several provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including s.196 (promoting enmity between groups), s.228 (fabricating false evidence), s.299 (outraging religious feelings), s.351(2) (criminal intimidation), and s.356(3) (defamation). Additionally, s.152 of the BNS, which criminalises actions endangering India's sovereignty, unity, and integrity, has been invoked.
In his petition, Zubair denied any intent to incite violence, stating that his post merely highlighted Narsinghanand's speech and sought police action in accordance with the law. He argued that sharing public-domain videos of the priest does not constitute defamation or promote disharmony. Zubair also noted that Narsinghanand’s alleged remarks violated bail conditions from a prior hate speech case, which prohibited him from making statements promoting communal disharmony.
The court, which recused itself within 20 minutes of the hearing, directed that the matter be listed before another bench. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking to restrain Narsinghanand from making derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad and the Qur'an is also pending before the High Court.
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
