Journalists demand release of co-founder of Alt News after he was accused of insulting Hindus
\n New Delhi
\nThe co-founder of a factchecking website has been arrested by police in Delhi weeks after he highlighted derogatory comments made by a spokesperson for Narendra Modi\u2019s ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) about the prophet Muhammad.
\nMohammed Zubair, who set up the Alt News website, flagged the remarks made during a television debate at the end of May on Twitter, bringing them attention they may not otherwise have had.
\nWhen Muslims became aware of the remarks from the BJP spokesperson, Nupur Sharma, they staged protests. The incident escalated into a diplomatic row with Arab countries voicing their anger.
\nThe Modi government distanced itself from the remarks as the storm grew and suspended Sharma on 5 June. Sharma has been charged over her remarks but her whereabouts remain unknown and she has ignored a summons from Mumbai police to record a statement.
\nZubair was arrested under two sections of a law related to maintaining religious harmony on the basis of a complaint that said he insulted Hindus in a 2018 Twitter post commenting on the renaming of a hotel after the Hindu monkey god Hanuman.
\nShowing a picture of a hotel, it said: \u201cBefore 2014, Honeymoon Hotel. After 2014: Hanuman Hotel\u201d. The post implied that after Modi came to power in 2014, the owners had changed the name to Hanuman, the monkey god venerated by millions of Hindus, to fit into the new regime\u2019s ethos.
\nSharma has said she has received death threats since she was suspended and blamed Zubair\u2019s exposure of her comments for them. Zubair has also received death threats.
\nHis arrest provoked incredulous reactions from opposition leaders across the political spectrum.
\n\u201cEvery person exposing the BJP\u2019s hate, bigotry and lies is a threat to them,\u201d tweeted the Congress party leader, Rahul Gandhi.
\nAnother politician, Asaduddin Owaisi, tweeted: \u201cDelhi police does nothing about anti-Muslim genocidal slogans but acts swiftly against the \u2018crime\u2019 of reporting hate speech and countering misinformation.\u201d
\nTen human rights organisations said on World Press Freedom Day last month that Indian authorities were increasingly picking on journalists and online critics for their criticism of government policies and practices, including by prosecuting them under counter-terrorism and sedition laws.
\nGovernment officials deny the charges.
\n\u201cIt is apparent that Zubair\u2019s alert vigilance was resented by those who use disinformation as a tool to polarise society and rake up nationalist sentiments,\u201d said the Editors Guild of India while demanding his immediate release.
\nCritics of the BJP have pointed out that Sharma\u2019s suspension under pressure from the Middle East angered the party\u2019s rank and file and far-right groups that supported Sharma.
\nIn reaction, the government has accused Muslims of similar offences against Hinduism in an effort to pacify BJP hardliners and create a false sense of equivalence.
\nThe political analyst Arati Jerath pointed out that the home of a Muslim activist in Uttar Pradesh was summarily demolished this month \u201cto show BJP supporters that the party was being tough on Muslims too\u201d.
\n\u201cBoth the party and the government are trying to mollify their supporters by going after critics, mostly Muslims, and Zubair\u2019s arrest is part of this exercise,\u201d said Jerath.
\nAakar Patel, chair of International India, said: \u201cThe Indian authorities are targeting Mohammed Zubair for his crucial work combatting the rise in fake news and disinformation and calling out discrimination against minorities.
\n\u201cHis arrest highlights how the danger facing human rights defenders in India has reached crisis point.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Journalists demand release of co-founder of Alt News after he was accused of insulting Hindus New Delhi The co-founder of a factchecking website has been arrested by police in Delhi weeks after he highlighted derogatory comments made by a spokesperson for Narendra Modi\u2019s ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) about the prophet Muhammad. Mohammed Zubair, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268726,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[480,9128,9127,9129],"class_list":{"0":"post-268698","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-arrest","9":"tag-delhi-police","10":"tag-mohammed-zubair","11":"tag-muslim-journalist"},"yoast_head":"\n