No criminality found in Alt News co-founder Zubair’s tweet, police tell Delhi’s HC

• NCPCR, in its reply affidavit, had stated that the act of retweeting the picture of a minor girl “initiated the indecent and obnoxious” comments against her
• In September 2020, the Delhi High Court had restrained the Delhi Police from taking any coercive action against Zubair
• The Delhi high court has now listed the matter to be heard on March 2

The Delhi Police on Thursday told the Delhi high court that “no criminality was found” in the tweet posted by Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, for which a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) was registered against him.

The Cyber Cell of the Delhi Police had booked Zubair under the POCSO Act on a complaint from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) for allegedly “threatening and torturing a girl child through Twitter”. Zubair moved the Delhi HC seeking quashing of the FIR and action against NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo, who is the complainant in the case.

Appearing for Delhi Police, advocate Nandita Rao submitted before a single judge bench of Justice Anup Jairam Bhambani that police have found “no criminality in so far as Zubair is concerned” and have accordingly not included his name in the chargesheet, according to Indian Express. The HC, thereafter, said, “Before proceeding further, let the chargesheet be placed on record”.

The case is related to an August 2020 tweet posted by Zubair with the profile picture of a user who had criticised him on the social media platform using profane language. Zubair asked the user if it was appropriate for him to use derogatory language in replies while using a profile picture of his granddaughter, according to The Wire. Zubair had blurred the face of the minor girl.

“Hello Jagdish Singh. Does your cute granddaughter know about your part time job of abusing people on social media? I suggest you to change your profile pic (sic),” Zubair wrote.

The Delhi Police in May 2022 had informed the court that no cognisable offence was made out against Zubair in the case.

But the NCPCR came in. It argued that Zubair did not cooperate with the probe team saying that the information provided by the police in its status report showed that he was trying to evade the investigation.

The Delhi high court has now listed the matter to be heard on March 2 and asked the police to place the chargesheet on record.

In its affidavit, the NCPCR had stated that the act of retweeting the picture of a minor girl by Zubair “initiated the indecent and obnoxious” comments against her; it additionally contributed to disclosure of her identity through her father seriously, jeopardising her safety and security. “Retweeting the picture on his Twitter platform exposed the girl to harassment on a big social media platform wherein lewd and disgraceful comments were published by users,” the body alleged.

Zubair was arrested in late June last year by the Delhi police for a 2018 tweet in which he posted a screenshot from a 1983 Hindi movie. While he was incarcerated, six more cases were slapped against him.

-INDIA NEWS STREAM