The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: While hearing a plea by fact checker and Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair, the Allahabad High Court has questioned that why the former had chosen to post regarding an alleged speech made by Hindutva figure Yati Narsinghanand rather than filing an FIR against him or approaching the court.
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.
“If this person (referring to Yati Narsinhanand) is acting funny, then instead of going to the police, will you act more funny? Have you lodged an FIR against him? I will look at your conduct. If you don’t like his (Yati) speech, face, you should file an FIR against him,” a division bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra orally remarked while hearing the case, reported LiveLaw.
The court added that glancing through his (Zubair’s) tweet showed that he was “trying to create unrest.”
The senior counsel representing Zubair told the court that his client was simply exercising his freedom of speech by referring to the alleged speech of Yati Narsinghanand, highlighting the latter’s conduct.
“Come to the court then…you will go to social media handle… create social disharmony?…Whatever he (Yati) says, you cannot go to social media…Who denies that Twitter cannot be used, but you cannot use it to instigate unrest.. glancing at the tweet shows that you are trying to create unrest,” Justice Varma orally remarked.
Earlier, a bench of Justices Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Prashant Kumar had recused from hearing Zubair’s plea. Thereafter, the matter came before a bench of Justice Varma and Justice Mishra.