The Allahabad High Court has extended the stay on the arrest of Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of Alt News, until January 27. This decision relates to an FIR filed against him over an alleged post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) regarding controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand.
According to Live Law, a bench comprising Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Yogendra Kumar Srivastava granted the extension, allowing the State Government to verify the documents filed by Zubair’s counsel. On January 6, Zubair was given ten days to file a rejoinder in response to a counter filed by the State Government.
Zubair is facing charges under an FIR lodged by the Ghaziabad Police in October 2024, following a complaint from an associate of Yati Narsinghanand. The FIR accuses Zubair of promoting enmity between religious groups after he allegedly posted a video of Narsinghanand making inflammatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad. Zubair tagged the UP Police in his post, questioning what actions had been taken against Narsinghanand and calling his speech ‘derogatory.’
On December 20, the Allahabad High Court had stayed Zubair’s arrest, observing that he was not a “dreaded criminal.” Zubair challenged the FIR, contending that his post did not incite violence but instead highlighted Narsinghanand’s controversial speech, urging police action in accordance with the law.
In response, Dr. Udita Tyagi, the general secretary of the Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Trust, filed an FIR accusing Zubair of posting edited and old clips to incite hatred against the priest. Zubair, however, maintains that his post was a form of free speech aimed at bringing attention to Narsinghanand’s remarks and did not promote disharmony or ill-will between communities.
Zubair’s legal team is awaiting further proceedings, and the matter will be reviewed by the court again after January 27.
