Police in Uttar Pradesh have filed yet another case against Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of the fact-checking website Alt News, this time under a BNS section that critics call the new avatar of the colonial-era sedition law.
“The Uttar Pradesh police, in an affidavit submitted to the Allahabad High Court, has accused our co-founder Mohammed Zubair of “endangering the sovereignty and unity of India” through his social media posts,” Alt News said in a post on social media.
“This pertains to an FIR filed against him for a tweet highlighting hate speech by Yati Narsinghanand, a person facing multiple FIRs for his communal hate speeches.
The section invoked is BNS 152 (Section 152 of the Bharat Nyaya Sanhita), a new avatar of the colonial-era sedition law,” it said.
“Critics have long warned that this provision could be weaponized to stifle dissent and target voices critical of those in power, just as sedition laws were misused in the past. Zubair’s case is a stark example of how these fears are becoming a reality,” the website said.
“This affidavit is yet another example of how state machinery is being used to intimidate individuals and organizations committed to exposing hate and misinformation. Alt News remains steadfast in our mission to uphold truth and accountability in public discourse.
“The case will be heard on Tuesday, and we stand in solidarity with Zubair as he faces this relentless legal intimidation.
Zubair had first shot into the internet limelight as the founder of a parody page that lampooned extreme-Hindutva handles in general and Subramanian Swamy in particular.
Later, he started Alt News along with activist Pratik Sinha, who is the son of the late Gujarat-based human rights activist and lawyer Mukul Sinha.
This is not the first time Zubair has faced police action from BJP-ruled states. In October last year, Uttar Pradesh filed an FIR against him for sharing the video of a headmistress ordering children to slap a Muslim child in her school. Zubair was accused of revealing the boy’s identity.