Delhi Police collects laptop, hard disks from Zubair's Bengaluru residence
New Delhi, Jun 30: A four-member Delhi Police team on Thursday seized a laptop and hard disks belonging to Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair from his residence in Bengaluru, officials said.
Zubair was arrested on Monday for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Hindus through an "objectionable" tweet he posted in 2018. On Tuesday, a Delhi court extended his custodial interrogation by four days.
The Delhi Police team reached Zubair's residence at RT Nagar area in Bengaluru at around 11:30 am and collected electronic evidence, including his laptop and hard disks, a senior police officer said.
Zubair has been brought back to Delhi where he will be further questioned about the case, he said.
On Wednesday, the police had written to multiple banks seeking information about Zubair's account details and other financial transactions.
The officer also said the mobile phone being used by the co-founder of the fact-checking website had been formatted and did not have information related to the case.
According to police, Zubair said he had lost the phone which was allegedly used in posting the objectionable tweet.
Meanwhile, the anonymous Twitter handle which flagged the tweet and raised a complaint, does not exist on the microblogging site anymore, sources in the Delhi Police said.
Zubair has been booked 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, according to police.
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SC asks states to treat rising child trafficking cases as grave; seeks coordinated action
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court has voiced grave concern over rising cases of child trafficking, saying gangs are operating across the country and if States and Union territories do not take immediate action, thing will go beyond control.
The court said only the state government and its home department can act vigilantly in this regard.
“As a court we can monitor, but ultimately the action has to be on the part of the state government, the police, and other agencies. Therefore, this is our humble request”, a bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan said during the hearing of a plea on Wednesday.
The bench was irked over the "lackadaisical" approach of several states and UTs in implementing a 2025 judgment aimed at dismantling organised trafficking networks.
Justice Viswanathan said the retrieval of children in some cases proves the problem can be tackled, but it requires a level of political and administrative will which is lacking at present.
The verdict, delivered on April 15, 2025, had mandated several institutional reforms, including completion of trials in trafficking cases within six months on a day-to-day basis.
It had also directed strengthening of Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) and improving investigation standards.
Besides asking for setting up of state-level committees to monitor vulnerable trafficking hotspots, it had asked the authorities to treat missing children cases as trafficking unless proven otherwise.
Earlier, the bench had termed the compliance reports filed by a few states as "nothing but an eye wash."
On Wednesday, the bench noted that Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Haryana, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Odisha, and Punjab had still failed to file reports in the prescribed format.
When the home secretary of Madhya Pradesh offered an apology for the lapse, the bench granted a "final opportunity" but warned that continued failure would lead to states being officially branded as "defaulting".
The bench noted that at least 15 states are yet to constitute review committees mandated to identify and monitor trafficking-prone areas.
The matter will now be heard on April 29.
