The Indian Journalists Union condemn

The Indian Journalists Union condemns in the strongest of terms the arrest of Muhammad Zubair, co-founder of fact checking website AltNews. His arrest by the Delhi police smacks of malafide as it comes for his post in 2018, claimed by a Twitter handle to be ‘hurting religious sentiments.’ The Union called for his immediate release as the action is clearly intended not only to intimidate and harass Zubair but also hit out at AltNews, which is doing yeoman service in checking fake news and disinformation. According to reports, Zubair was called in for questioning on Monday in a 2020 case, for which he had protection against arrest from Delhi High Court, but a cyber unit of Delhi Police filed an FIR against Zubair under IPC sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 295-A (malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings).