J&K court orders FIR against Zee News, News18 for falsely calling teacher ‘Pakistani terrorist’

A court in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Saturday ordered the filing of a first information report against news channels Zee News and News18 India for their allegedly false and defamatory coverage about a religious teacher during Operation Sindoor, Bar and Bench reported.

Sub-judge and Special Mobile Magistrate Shafeeq Ahmed issued the direction on a complaint filed by advocate Sheikh Mohammad Saleem.

The court said that the apology issued by the news channels in the matter did “not cure the mischief” caused by their “irresponsible reporting” amid heightened tensions in Jammu and Kashmir during the four-day conflict between India and Pakistan in May, The Wire reported.

In his complaint, Saleem alleged that the news channels falsely identified a religious teacher named Qari Mohammad Iqbal as a “Pakistani terrorist” linked to the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and alleged his involvement in the 2019 Pulwama terror attack.

Saleem claimed that Iqbal was a religious teacher at Jamia Zia-ul-Uloom, an Islamic seminary in Poonch, Bar and Bench reported. Iqbal was killed in Pakistani firing on May 7 while he was out buying groceries for his students’ meal.

However, Zee News and News18 India described him as a “notorious commander” killed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in their coverage of Operation Sindoor, Saleem said, adding that their reporting falsely linked him to terrorism without any...

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