FIR filed against Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair for disclosing minor’s identity

Uttar Pradesh police filed a case against Alt News co-founder and fact-checker Mohammad Zubair on Monday for allegedly disclosing the identity of the minor Muslim boy who was seen being slapped by his classmates in a viral video from Muzaffarnagar. The case was filed based on a complaint by a person named Vishnu Dutt at the Muzaffarnagar police station. Zubair has been booked under Section 74 (prohibition on disclosure of identity of children) of the Juvenile Justice Act.

In the video that went viral last Friday, Tripta Tyagi, headmistress of the Neha Public School in Muzaffarnagar could be seen instructing her students to slap a seven-year-old Muslim boy. Tyagi can be heard saying “Hit him harder,” to the students.  The teacher was booked under Section 323 (causing hurt) and Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace).

Zubair had initially posted the video on X along with other X users, but later deleted it. “The police had not called me or sent a notice. I came to know about the FIR against me through social media,” Zubair told the Indian Express. He added, “…Why was an FIR filed only against me? Several other media outlets had also posted the video… I was targeted. This shows that the police can target anyone.”

Previously, Zubair was arrested on June 27 by Delhi police for a Tweet he did in 2018 in which he had shared a screenshot from a 1983 Hindi movie. While he was in jail, six more cases were slapped against him by the UP police. The Supreme Court granted Zubair bail on July 20, 2022, in all FIRs lodged by the UP police. Supreme Court had observed that the repeated charging and arresting of Zubair was a vicious cycle and had asked the UP police not to take precipitative actions.