The Lakhimpur Kheri police obtained a warrant against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in a case lodged at Mohammadi police station last year on charges of promoting enmity between two groups, just hours after the Supreme Court granted him five days' interim bail in a case registered in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, for hurting religious sentiments through a tweet.
The FIR was filed in September last year at the Mohammadi police station in response to a Lakhimpur Kheri court order, and a warrant was issued to Zubair at the Sitapur district jail on Friday, asking him to appear before the court by July 11.
“The Lakhimpur Kheri court has summoned Zubair in court on July 11,” Superintendent of Police, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sanjeev Suman said, adding that it was the jail officials’ responsibility to produce Zubair in court.
READ| AltNews' Mohammed Zubair gets interim bail for 5 days from SC in Sitapur case, remains in Delhi Police custody
According to the police, a person named Ashish Kumar Katiyar filed a case accusing Zubair of circulating false news on Twitter in order to disturb communal harmony. Accordingly, a case was lodged against Zubair under Section 153-A (promoting enmity between two groups) of the Indian Penal Code.
In his complaint, Katiyar had stated that the Alt News co-founder played a malicious role in uniting Muslims, across the world, against India and peddling communal discord even during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Zubair was brought to Sitapur two days ago from Delhi, where he was detained in connection with a separate case filed last week. Zubair was produced before a local court in Sitapur by Delhi Police, which sent him to six days' police custody in the Sitapur case.
