Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of Alt News, was ordered to police detention for four days on Tuesday by a Delhi court in a case of inciting religious hostility that was filed based on a tweet he sent out in 2018. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria issued the directive.

According to the court, Zubair has been uncooperative and must be transported to Bengaluru to get his laptop and phone back.

He has been charged with violating Sections 153A of the Indian Penal Code (which encourages animosity between religious groups) and Section 295 (which prohibits damaging or defiling places of worship to disparage the religion of any class) (IPC).

According to a complaint made by a Twitter account going by the name Hanuman Bhakt, Zubair intentionally insulted a certain religion's God by tweeting a problematic image. This is the basis of the case against Zubair.

In support of the Delhi Police, the Public Prosecutor claimed that it has become commonplace to offend the Hindu community's religious sensibilities.

'Yeh trend banaya hua hai ki famous hone ke liye religious feelings outrage karte hain. They outrage feelings of Hindu religion,' he said.

He said that Zubair had made four other dubious social media posts.

'Mahabharat character Sanjay is shown using the laptop. All applications are deleted from the mobile phone. He came with a blank phone. His deliberate act is there on record which is outraging religious sentiments,' the Public Prosecutor said.

Social media is a form of online communication medium. Users can converse, exchange knowledge, and access online stuff. Social media was developed as a platform to improve people's lives and make them simpler. Nowadays, however, fake news, hostility, and criminal activity are being shared on social media. It was intended to be a secure place where individuals could express their views, but it has recently turned into a catalyst for riots, protests, and acts of violence. Social media users share everything and anything, which encourages aggression. Although it is acknowledged that everyone has the right to express themselves freely, regardless of class, social media is increasingly serving as a platform for the spread of false information and hatred.

One such instance was when Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of Alt News, was placed on remand after one of his tweets offended Hindus' religious sensibilities. On social media, there is a lot of violence and animosity toward other religions. For some people, doing so is peaceful and enjoyable. It is not humorous to disparage other people's faith. It's hard to regulate the fury that certain things on social media generate.

 

Media is considered the fourth pillar of democracy.  People in the media have always been highly outspoken about their views. Mohammed Zubair, a prominent media figure and co-founder of a well-known media platform, is spreading hateful remarks about religion and stoking tensions amongst communities. A Hindu guy was beheaded by two Islamist fanatics in Udaipur, Rajasthan, for supporting Nupur Sharma. If a Hindu person had said something similar against any other faith, especially Islam, the individual would have received threats and maybe been killed by now. However, Hindus, who adhere to the Sanatan Dharam, believe in nonviolence and harmonious living; for this reason, we would never have done such a thing.

Numerous cases of Hindu faith denigration on social media have occurred. It is a secular nation, India. Here, all religions are honoured. Why can't other religions appreciate and tolerate each other if Hindus can? One of the world's oldest faiths is Hinduism. However, Hinduism is the religion that is most hated in the country. Why? because Hindus make up the bulk of the population? What makes that fair? How is it ethical to denigrate the religion and incite 'Twitter storms' to propagate animosity toward it? People must realise that all religions are equal. Although certain faiths may have more gods than others, all religions preach peace and harmony as their core principles.