[Mohammed Zubair Tweet] Delhi Police acting casually, taking incorrect stand: NCPCR to Delhi High Court

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has told the Delhi High Court that Delhi Police’s stand that no cognisable offence was committed by Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in connection with a tweet put out by him in August 2020, is incorrect..The case against Zubair relates to his tweet replying to an abusive message from a user named Jagdish Singh.Zubair in his tweet had called out Singh for being a troll and retweeted his display picture which featured his daughter but after pixelating/ blurring the daughter's image.The tweet read,“Hello Jagdish Singh. 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.”.A month later, two First Information Reports (FIRs) were filed against him in Delhi and Raipur under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) for allegedly "threatening and torturing" a minor girl on Twitter..The Delhi Police had filed an affidavit in the High Court in May stating that the tweet does not constitute any cognisable offence..Now the NCPCR has filed an affidavit arguing that the information provided by the Delhi Police clearly shows that Zubair has been trying to evade the investigation and, therefore, the submission that no cognizable offence was made out “is also incorrect and indicates the casual attitude of the police in this case”..The child rights protection body said that through his tweet, Zubair has violated the provisions of the IT Act as well as POCSO Act and, therefore, Delhi Police should be directed to conduct a thorough investigation against him and complete the same on priority..The affidavit stated that even after knowing the fact that there were several comments being made on his post against the minor girl which were indecent and sexual in nature, Zubair neither tried to delete the tweet nor informed the concerned authorities about the users which indicated his mala fide intention..The petitioner (Zubair) has prima facie also violated the provision of Section 19 of the POCSO Act, 2012 as well, the response said.“That NCPCR submits that this case involving harassment and online stalking of a minor is a serious problem that has arisen through the wide usage of social media platforms like Twitter. That the act of the petitioner has not only violated the rights of a minor but has also violated the provisions of law as given under the IT Act, 2000, IPC, 1860 and POCSO Act, 2012.”.Though the petition was listed for hearing today, it was adjourned to December 7.