According to several media reports, an anonymous Twitter account upon whose complaint Alt News’ co-founder Mohammed Zubair was arrested, does not exist on Twitter anymore.
The said account in question, which went by user id @balajikijaiin with a profile picture of Hindu deity Hanuman, had taken an objection over tweet posted by Zubair in 2018, which showed an image of a hotel signboard repainted from âHoneymoon Hotelâ to âHanuman Hotelâ.
In an only tweet on this handle with only three followers, the user on June 19 had wrote that Zubair’s tweet insulted the Hindu deity.
After the tweet by this account, the Delhi Police had registered an FIR against the journalist on June 20.
However, on Wednesday morning, the Twitter handle had disappeared from the social media site, with a message reading: âThis account doesnât exist.â
Senior Advocate Vrinda Grover, representing Zubair, ad raised questions about the legitimacy of the Twitter account ‘Hanuman Bhakt’ during a hearing in a Delhi court on Tuesday.
âWe are in June 2022. If an anonymous Twitter handle chose to create mischief in the country, those reasons should be investigated I think. Abuse of legal process is writ large over here,” Vrinda Grover had said.
The public prosecutor, representing the Delhi Police, had argued that the Twitter user was a âmere informerâ and the complaint against Zubair cannot be called an anonymous one.
The PP in court said: âHe is not an anonymous complainant. âHis details are here. Without details, no one can get a Twitter account.â
Following these arguments, the court had ordered Zubair to police custody for four days.
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