Police in Delhi arrests Muslim journalist Mohammed Zubair for a tweet from 2018

Mohammed Zubair has been a vocal critic of the government.

Police in Delhi arrest Muslim journalist Mohammed Zubair for a tweet from 2018. Reporters demand the release of Alt News co-founder who was accused of insulting Hindus

Several weeks after exposing derogatory comments made by a spokesperson for Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) about the prophet Muhammad, the co-founder of a fact-checking website has been arrested by police in New Delhi.

Founder of the website Alt News Muhammad Zubair made note of these remarks during a television debate at the end of May on Twitter. In response to the remarks made by Nupur Sharma, spokesperson of the BJP, Muslims staged protests. In the wake of this incident, a diplomatic row developed with Arab countries expressing their anger.

In the wake of the controversy, the Modi government distanced itself from the remarks and suspended Sharma on 5 June. The Mumbai police has summoned Sharma to record a statement, but she has not responded to the summons and her whereabouts remain unknown.

Zubeir was arrested for violating two sections of a law related to maintaining religious harmony on the basis of a complaint alleging that he insulted Hindus in a 2018 tweet concerning a hotel renaming to honour the Hindu monkey deity Hanuman.

Using a picture of a hotel, it stated: "Before 2014, Honeymoon Hotel. After 2014: Hanuman Hotel”. According to the post, after Modi came in power in 2014, the owners changed the name to Hanuman, the monkey god venerated by millions of Hindus, in order to conform to the ethos of the new regime.

According to Sharma, she has received death threats since being suspended and blames Zubair for disclosing her remarks. Zumair has also faced threats of death.

Opposition leaders across the political spectrum reacted incredulously to his arrest. “Every person exposing the BJP’s hate, bigotry and lies is a threat to them,” tweeted the Congress party leader, Rahul Gandhi.

On World Press Freedom Day last month, ten human rights organizations said that Indian authorities were increasingly prosecuting journalists and online critics who criticised government policies. This was happening under counter-terrorism and sedition laws. In reaction, the government has accused Muslims of similar offences against Hinduism in an attempt to appease BJP hardliners and promote a false sense of equality.