The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh police on Monday filed an FIR against Alt-News co-founder Mohammad Zubair over his posts regarding controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand.
The FIR against Zubair is based on a complaint made by Narsinghanand’s aide, Udita Tyagi, general Secretary of Yati Narsimahanand Saraswati Foundation. She alleged that Zubair posted an old clipping of Narsinghanand on October 3 to provoke violence against him.
Narsinghanand recently made headlines for making incendiary remarks on Prophet Muhammad and was heard inciting people to burn the Prophet’s effigies at an event in Ghaziabad on September 29.
The police have cited Sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion..), 228 (giving or fabricating false evidence), 299 (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 356(3) (related to defamation) and 351 (2) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), against Zubair, the Deccan Herald reported.
On Friday (October 4), a large crowd gathered on the road outside the temple run by Narsinghanand in Dasna. People shouted slogans and demanded action against the priest after videos of his remarks surfaced on social media.
According to reports, 10 people have been arrested for allegedly pelting stones at the temple. Members of Hindu outfits have also urged the UP police to take action against the people who “attacked” the temple on Friday.
The FIR lodged on Monday also mentions All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP Asaduddin Owaisi and prominent Muslim cleric Arshad Madni and alleges that the violence on Friday was part of a well planned controversy, Newslaundry reported.
Multiple police complaints have been lodged against Narsinghanand in several states, including UP, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Telangana. In Hyderabad, where an FIR was lodged against Narsinghanand on the complaint of the AIMIM, Owaisi said he had even requested the Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad to issue a notice to social media platforms to remove the “hate speech.”
Multiple Muslim organisations, outraged by Narsinghanand’s insults, have demanded action against him and approached police in their respective states with applications. While there are widespread demands to arrest Narsinghanand, who is known for his rabble-rousing politics, police are yet to confirm if he was actually detained or arrested, although several news portals and newspaper reports, including one by The Indian Express, said, quoting police sources, that he had been detained.
This is not the first FIR filed against Zubair. He was also arrested in June 2022 over a post made in 2018. His arrest had garnered significant attention and criticism from national and international media, civil society, and opposition parties, with allegations that it was an attempt to silence dissent and target fact-checkers.