Allahabad HC extends stay on arrest of ‘Alt News’ co-founder Mohammed Zubair in Narsinghanand case

The Allahabad High Court on Monday extended the stay on the arrest of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in a case pertaining to a post on the social media platform X about Hindutva supremacist Yati Narsinghanand, reported Live Law.

A bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Yogendra Kumar Srivastava extended his interim protection from arrest in the matter till February 17.

Zubair was booked on October 7 for allegedly promoting enmity between religious groups with a post about Narsinghanand.

Narsinghanand, who is the priest of the Dasna Devi temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, reportedly made a derogatory comment about Prophet Muhammad during a lecture on September 29, sparking protests by Muslim groups in several cities.

On October 3, Zubair had shared a purported video of the speech on X and demanded legal action against Narsinghanand.

Several first information reports have also been filed against Narsinghanand for alleged hate speech targeting Muslims.

Zubair had moved the court seeking protection from arrest following the registration of the FIR against him.

On December 20, the court granted him interim protection from arrest till January 6 and observed that the Alt News co-founder was not a “dreaded criminal”. He was also directed to not leave the country.

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