On Thursday, the Delhi High Court directed Jagdish Singh to issue a public apology on his X (formerly Twitter) account for referring to Mohammed Zubair, a fact-checker and journalist with Alt News, as a ‘jihadi’. The apology must remain on Singh’s X handle for a minimum of two months.
Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani specified that the apology should address Singh’s comment: “Once a jihadi is always jihadi.” The Court instructed that the apology tweet should state:
“I regret making the above comment, which was not made with any malice or intention to hurt or offend Mohammed Zubair.”
During the proceedings, Justice Bhambhani reviewed Singh’s other social media posts and criticized the nature of such content, suggesting that individuals like Singh should be barred from social media platforms.
In addition, the Court issued specific guidelines regarding the use of the apology. Mohammed Zubair is prohibited from retweeting or indirectly disseminating the apology tweet and cannot use it as evidence in any civil or criminal actions against Singh.
The Court’s order came in response to a petition Zubair filed in 2020, seeking the quashing of a Delhi Police FIR against him. The FIR followed Zubair’s tweet criticizing Singh, which included a blurred image of Singh’s daughter and read: “Hello Jagdish Singh. Does your cute granddaughter know about your part-time job of abusing people on social media? I suggest you change your profile pic.”
The Delhi Police subsequently booked Zubair under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO Act), as well as sections of the Information Technology Act and the Indian Penal Code, accusing him of allegedly “threatening and torturing” a minor.
However, the police later submitted an affidavit to the High Court stating that Zubair was not named in the chargesheet because no criminality was found. The High Court criticized the police for not taking action against Singh for his hate speech.
Following the Court’s reprimand, the Delhi Police examined Singh but found no incriminating evidence. The Police concluded that Singh’s tweet did not incite public fear or alarm, and thus no case was registered against him.
