A day after Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair was released from Tihar Jail, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha brought up the issue of his arrest in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, 21 July, and questioned the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur, why no action was taken against those who make hate speeches while stringent action was taken against the fact-checker.
Jha said,
“I want to ask the minister, what is this modus operandi where there is no action taken against those who make hate speeches while action is taken against fact-checkers? We have seen this a lot recently.”
'Law Does Its Job': Anurag Thakur
In response to the RJD MP’s question, Anurag Thakur responded, “We have to proceed with the case as per the rules and regulations laid down by the Ministry of Information and Technology on electronic media content. It is also important to know who is a fact-checker and who intends to cause disharmony in society in the name of being a fact-checker.”
He continued, “If there are complaints against such a person then the law takes its own course and the ministry has nothing to do with it.”
Mohammed Zubair walked out of jail on Wednesday, hours after the Supreme Court granted interim bail to the fact-checker in all existing and future FIRs against him in connection with his tweets.
Though Zubair was to walk out at 6 pm, he was finally released at 9:08 pm.
The cases lodged against him in Uttar Pradesh were also clubbed with the case against him in Delhi, and are to be investigated in a "consolidated" way by the Delhi Police, the top court ordered.
Further, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the UP administration to probe cases lodged against the fact-checker across the state was also disbanded by the apex court.
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