Chhattisgarh Police Closes POCSO Case Against Journalist Mohammad Zubair

New Delhi, 5 April (www.deccanlive.com): Chhattisgarh Police has officially closed the POCSO case filed against fact-checker and journalist Mohammad Zubair in 2020. The case was based on a post he made on social media. After the closure, Zubair said, “Truth can be troubled, but not defeated!”

New Delhi: Chhattisgarh Police has submitted a closure report in the case registered under the POCSO Act against Alt News fact-checker Mohammad Zubair. The state government recently informed the Chhattisgarh High Court about this decision.

This case was filed in 2020 regarding a post Zubair had made on X (formerly Twitter).

According to Live Law, the Chhattisgarh government’s lawyer gave this information to a bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Arvind Kumar Verma.

After hearing this, the court closed Zubair’s petition in which he had requested to cancel the FIR against him. The FIR was registered under:

• Section 67 of the IT Act (related to publishing obscene material),
• Section 509B of the Indian Penal Code (related to insulting modesty),
• and Section 12 of the POCSO Act (related to sexual harassment of children).

What Was the Case About?

In 2020, Mohammad Zubair made a post on X (formerly Twitter), tagging a person named Jagdish Singh. In the post, Zubair questioned Singh for using abusive language on social media, especially since his profile picture showed his young granddaughter.

Zubair wrote:
“Hello Jagdish Singh, does your lovely granddaughter know that you use abusive language on social media? I suggest you change your profile picture.”

Even though Zubair had blurred the girl’s face in the post, Jagdish Singh filed a complaint with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

After receiving the complaint, the Commission sent letters to the Delhi and Raipur Police. Following this, Raipur Police registered an FIR against Zubair. Zubair challenged the FIR in court.

Court’s Decision

In October 2020, the High Court ordered that no harsh action should be taken against Zubair. Later, in 2024, the court also directed Jagdish Singh to apologize to Zubair on X.

On April 2, 2024, Mohammad Zubair posted on X:

“In this case, the former chairman of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Priyank Kanoongo, misused his position and ran a campaign against me. He wrote letters to Delhi and Raipur Police, claiming that my tweet was harassment towards a minor girl. But last year, the Delhi court ordered the complainant to apologize to me publicly. And now, the Chhattisgarh Police has filed a closure report and declared me innocent.”

Zubair said that there were a total of 10 FIRs registered against him, and now 2 have been closed. He wrote:

“Truth can be troubled, but it cannot be defeated. Justice always wins!”

It is important to note that Mohammad Zubair is known for publishing fact-checking reports that expose false claims made by the government and BJP. Because of this, he often becomes a target of Hindutva supporters and propaganda groups. The Uttar Pradesh Police also filed a case against him for sharing a post related to Yati Narsinghanand, a person known for hate speech.