Allahabad HC stays arrest of fact checker Mohammad Zubair
Prayagraj, Dec 20: The Allahabad High Court on Friday stayed the arrest of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in relation to an FIR accusing him of promoting enmity among religious groups following a complaint by an associate of controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand.
The order was passed by a bench of justices Siddhartha Varma and Nalin Kumar Srivastava.
In her complaint, general secretary of Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Trust Udita Tyagi claimed Zubair posted a video clip of an old programme of Narsinghanand on October 3 with the intent to provoke violence by Muslims against him.
It was further alleged that Zubair posted edited clips of the priest on X, containing Narsinghanand's alleged incendiary remarks on Prophet Muhammad to incite radical sentiments against the controversial priest.
In his X post, Zubair called the alleged speech of Narsinghanand 'derogatory'.
The FIR was lodged by Ghaziabad police last month under sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 228 (fabricating false evidence), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 356(3) (defamation) and 351(2) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Zubair had moved the high court, requesting quashing the FIR and protection from coercive action. In his plea, he stated that his post did not call for violence against Narsinghanand.
Rather, he had merely alerted the police authorities about Narsinghanand's actions and sought action according to law, and this could not amount to promoting disharmony or ill-will between two classes of people.
In addition to it, he also challenged the invocation of the defamation provision under the BNS on the grounds that seeking action against Narsinghanand by sharing his own videos which are already in public domain, cannot amount to defamation.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
UP: Tehsildar's vehicle hits biker, drags body for 30 km
Bahraich(UP), Dec 20: A government vehicle belonging to the tehsildar of Nanpara hit a biker and allegedly dragged his body for 30 kilometers.
The victim, identified as Narendra Kumar Haldar (35), a resident of Payagpur, was returning home when the accident occurred on the Nanpara-Bahraich road on Thursday evening. According to police, Haldar's body got entangled in the vehicle and was dragged for the entire distance, reaching the Nanpara Tehsil.
Naib Tehsildar Shailesh Kumar Awasthi, who is believed to be present in the vehicle at the time of the accident, has been recommended for suspension by District Magistrate Monika Rani. The vehicle's driver, Meraj Ahmed, has been arrested. Superintendent of Police Vrinda Shukla confirmed the incident and said, "It was confirmed that the body was dragged for 30 kilometers to Nanpara when the locations of the deceased Narendra Haldar and the tehsildar's driver Meraj Ahmed were tracked at the time of the accident."
Stating that the incident was a "big negligence", the officer added, "It is very unlikely that a body was stuck in the vehicle for 30 kilometers and no one came to know about it. It is possible that the vehicle was not stopped due to fear."
The officer said that a thorough investigation is underway to determine the exact circumstances of the accident. "Police are examining CCTV footage along the 30-kilometer route to reconstruct the sequence of events," said the SP.
In the police complaint lodge regarding the matter, the family members of the deceased have mentioned the vehicle of the tehsildar, police said.
District Magistrate Monika Rani said, "The matter of a car colliding with a bike came to notice. The Naib Tehsildar of Nanpara had come to Bahraich in the Tehsildar's car for some work and was returning to Nanpara. It has been learnt that a dead body got stuck with his car that drove till Nanpara Tehsil. According to the naib tehsildar, he was not aware of it. A recommendation has been made to suspend the naib tehsildar who was in the car."
