A bench of the Allahabad High Court, consisting of Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Prashant Kumar, today recused itself from hearing a plea challenging an FIR filed by the Ghaziabad Police last month. The FIR accuses Mohammed Zubair of promoting enmity between religious groups, following a complaint by an associate of controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand.
The FIR against Zubair was filed by Udita Tyagi, the general secretary of the Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Trust. The complaint alleges that Zubair posted a video clip from an old program of Narsinghanand on October 3, intending to incite violence from Muslims against him.
The complaint further alleges that Zubair shared edited clips of the priest on X (formerly Twitter), featuring Narsinghanand’s purported inflammatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad, with the intent to incite racial sentiments against the controversial priest. In his post, Zubair referred to Narsinghanand’s alleged speech as “derogatory.”
Zubair was charged under sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on religious grounds), 228 (fabricating false evidence), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 356(3) (defamation), and 351(2) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Last week, the High Court was informed that Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which criminalizes acts that threaten the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India, has been invoked against Zubair. The court was also told that the case is being investigated with the highest level of sincerity and due diligence.
He has also challenged the application of the defamation provision under the BNS, arguing that sharing videos of Narsinghanand, which are already publicly available, cannot be considered defamation, especially when the intent was to seek action against him.
The matter is expected to be heard by a bench of Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Prashant Kumar.
