Delhi Police registers FIR against Alt News co-founder for ‘threatening, torturing’ girl on Twitter

New Delhi: The Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell has registered an FIR against AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair for allegedly “threatening and torturing a girl child through Twitter”, officials said on Sunday. The FIR was registered against Zubair under provisions of the Information Technology Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) on a complaint received from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), a senior police officer said. Zubair, however, refuted the allegations. “This is an absolutely frivolous complaint. I will be responding to it legally,” he said. The complaint filed by the NCPCR refers to a photo of a girl and her grandfather shared by Zubair on Twitter during an online spat with the minor’s father. Though the girl’s face was blurred out in the photo, the complainant said that she could get identified as her grandfather’s face was recognisable. The NCPCR, in the complaint, said the commission took cognizance of complaint received under section 13 (1) ) and (k) of CPCR Act, 2005, as in the complaint the picture of a minor girl is seen to be circulated and posted by various Twitter handles with indecent and disgraceful remarks/comments, which seems to be a cognizable offence and requires immediate registration of an FIR. “You look into the matter and take prompt action in respect to the Twitter handle and posts harassing, threatening and stalking the minor girl. Further, you were also requested to ensure safety of girl child and initiate appropriate action against the alleged perpetrators,” NCPCR chief Priyank Kanoongo said in his letter. Kanoongo said he is seeking action under POCSO/relevant acts against “online threats and repeated incident of stalking of a minor girl on Twitter by Zubair”. “As per the complaint, Mohammed Zubair bearing Twitter handle zoo online harassing, threatening and stalking a minor girl,” he said. He has also written to Twitter India to take action into the matter. On Saturday, the NCPCR chief had tweeted, “According to the ATR received in @NCPCR_ ,an FIR has been lodged against the alleged persons for threatening and torturing a girl child on @Twitter. As per the request made by @TwitterIndia an additional time of 10 days has been provided to them to provide relevant information.”