It is difficult to see the First Information Reports filed against Mohammed Zubair , co-founder of fact-checking site AltNews , as anything...
It is difficult to see the First Information Reports filed against Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking site AltNews, as anything but the targeting of a journalist whose work involves the relentless and often thankless job of debunking the reams of fake news and inflammatory propaganda that fills up our social media feeds and WhatsApp chats in India.
Zubair has been booked in two police cases, one in Delhi and another in Raipur, under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Information Technology Act for allegedly harassing and torturing a minor girl online. The cases came after the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, upon receiving a complaint, wrote to the police to initiate action against Zubair.
The charge? A Twitter user, Jagdish Singh using the handle @JSINGH2252, had responded to one of Zubair’s posts with an abusive message. Zubair replied by pointing out that Singh’s display picture on Twitter featured a little girl, saying, “Does your cute grand daughter know about your part time job of abusing people on social media? I suggest you to change your profile pic.” In his post, Zubair blurred the image of the minor.
Zubair has called the cases “frivolous” and said he will respond...
