A few days later, hundreds of Narsinghanand’s supporters surrounded the local police station, demanding action against Zubair. Police opened a case against the fact-checker after Udythya Tyagi – a politician from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a close aide of the priest – lodged a complaint.
Zubair’s original complaint had included somewhat milder charges – including inciting hatred between different religious groups, defamation and perjury. But last week, the police added Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita – as Indian new legal code listed, accusing him of “threatening the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India”.
This, according to legal experts, allows the police to arrest Zubair. His lawyer applied for bail and also asked the court to dismiss the case.
In his defence, Zubair says he was not the only one to tweet Narsinghanand’s remarks and that a number of journalists, politicians and media outlets had tweeted the video before him.
“The police opened a case against me based on the complaints of subscribers of a person who regularly makes hate speeches. And they persecute someone who reports hate speech, and people who say hate speech are free,” he says.
“This is an attempt to silence people who are trying to hold the government accountable,” he adds.
Pratik Sinha, Zubair’s colleague and another co-founder of AltNews, says the authorities are targeting Zubair because of the work he does and the influence it has.
“This is a classic case of shooting the messenger. This is a witch hunt,” he told the BBC.
“Why, almost two months later, are the police bringing more severe charges against him? Not only Narsinghanand and his followers are behind him, but also the government.
The addition of the draconian charge against Zubair has also been criticized by human rights organizations and groups representing journalists and media in India, who say Section 152 is a “new version” of the colonial-era sedition law.
Amnesty International India, external said it was an example of the law being used “to harass, intimidate and persecute human rights defenders, activists, journalists, students, filmmakers, singers, actors and writers for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression”.
Press Club of India convicted, external and demanded that the police case against Zubair be withdrawn.
“All sane minds oppose this section because it could silence freethinkers and the media. It can also be imposed against those who criticize the dispensation,” the statement said.
Digipub, an association of digital media organisations, condemned the “escalating harassment” of Zubair and called the allegations against him “baseless”.
“This is a a vindictive and unreasonable overkill, external by state bodies,” the report says.
