"Formatting Phone Not Illegal": Fact-Checker Mohammed Zubair Seeks Bail, Faces New Charges

As Mohammed Zubair underlined that the tweet was screenshot from 1983 film cleared by censor board, police said "it was not the age of internet" then

Fact-checker Mohammed Zubair's lawyer today told a Delhi court that "formatting a phone is not illegal", while the police claimed a criminal conspiracy, insisting that the case is "not just of a simple tweet". 

The arguments came up during his bail plea hearing, which was caught in a controversy, too, after the police said he'd been denied bail even when the court has not yet announced a decision.  

Mr Zubair, co-founder of Alt News, was arrested over a four-year-old tweet on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, barely a month after he flagged a video of since-suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma speaking against Prophet Mohammed on a TV show. He was in police custody for the past five days. 

Opposing his bail plea today in Delhi's Patiala House court, police said Mr Zubair got donations from countries like Pakistan and Syria. They said sections related to destruction of evidence (formatted phone and deleted tweets) and criminal conspiracy have been added to the FIR, besides the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010.