Bengaluru: Acting on a complaint filed by ALT News co-founder and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair, DJ Halli police station in Bengaluru has registered an FIR against 15 people for threatening his safety and attacking his religious identity through Twitter accounts.
In his complaint, Zubair identified 15 Twitter handles responsible for posting his address on social media, sending him death threats and inciting hostility between the two groups.
Zubair's complaint also highlights an incident in which a Twitter user, @Cyber_Huntss, sent him pork through a pet food website during Ramadan. @Cyber_Huntss tweeted about sending the 400-gram packet of pork to Zubair on April 9, which subsequently led to the disclosure of Zubair's address in Bengaluru.
However, the tweet has since been removed. The FIR also mentions Ajeet Bharti, a self-proclaimed journalist who has tweeted death threats against Zubair.
The police have charged @Cyber_Huntss and other unidentified individuals under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including Section 505 which deals with statements that may cause public mischief, Section 153A which pertains to promoting enmity between different groups based on factors like religion and race, Section 506 which deals with criminal intimidation, and Section 504 which concerns intentional insult with the intent to provoke a breach of peace. Zubair received numerous death threats in March 2023.