Mohammed Zubair’s deliberate omission: How the Alt News co-founder hid Lord Shiva slur to peddle a false narrative over MP HC’s denial of bail to a cartoonist
Earlier today, Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, a self-styled crusader against “hate speech” and “blasphemy”, tweeted about the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s decision to deny anticipatory bail to Indore-based cartoonist Hemant Malviya. But true to his pattern of selective reporting and communal dog-whistling, Zubair once again chose distortion over disclosure.
His tweet painted a simplistic picture: that a cartoonist was denied bail merely for caricaturing the RSS and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, what Zubair conveniently left out and what the High Court explicitly acknowledged was the cartoonist’s demeaning reference to Lord Shiva. This omission was not accidental; it was deliberate, calculated, and consistent with Zubair’s long-standing modus operandi of peddling half-truths to provoke Islamist outrage while cloaking himself in the garb of a fact-checker.
The full story Zubair didn’t want you to see
In May, an FIR was registered against Hemant Malviya after complaints from an RSS worker and advocate Vijay Joshi. Malviya had drawn a caricature that not only mocked the RSS and Prime Minister Modi but also carried an endorsement of a vulgar, derogatory line invoking Lord Shiva, a clear affront to Hindu religious sentiments.
In its judgment, the Madhya Pradesh High Court made its position clear:
“In the considered opinion of this court, on the face of it, the conduct of the applicant in depicting the RSS, along with the Prime Minister of this country in the aforesaid caricature, coupled with his endorsement of a rather demeaning remark, dragging unnecessarily the name of Lord Shiva in the comments tagged to it, is nothing but the sheer misuse of the freedom of speech and expression… and falls under the definition of offence as contended by the complainant.”
Despite this judicial clarity, Zubair’s tweet omitted any mention of the Lord Shiva insult. Why? Because including it would dismantle the false narrative he wished to build, one of authoritarian overreach and persecution of dissenters. By presenting the case as a crackdown on criticism of the PM and RSS, Zubair attempted to inflame public sentiment and portray India’s judiciary as intolerant of political satire, when in fact the issue was one of religious slander.
From “fact-checker” to agenda-peddler
This isn’t a one-off case. Zubair’s track record is riddled with such half-truths and malicious framing. He infamously triggered the Sar Tan Se Juda (beheading) frenzy in 2022 by highlighting a snippet of BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s debate comments that were drawn on directly from canonical Islamic texts regarding Prophet Muhammad’s marriage. Zubair posted the clip with suggestive commentary, unleashing a storm of Islamist threats and violence. The result? Nupur Sharma faced assassination threats, had to go underground, and India’s streets saw bloodshed in the name of “blasphemy.”
And yet, this same Zubair postures as a defender of free speech and civil liberties, so long as the speech in question attacks Hindu sentiments, not Islamic ones.
Hypocrisy at its peak
The contrast is telling. When Hindus voice concerns about being vilified, Zubair dismisses them as bigots. When Islamists threaten to behead someone over scriptural quotes, Zubair is silent or justifies the outrage as a reaction to “hurt sentiments.” He presents himself as a watchdog against hate, but his lens is deeply sectarian: he sees hate only when it suits his ideological narrative.
His tweet on the Hemant Malviya case is not just a dishonest omission. It is a continuation of a deeply dangerous playbook, one that seeks to radicalise one side by feeding it distorted grievances while mocking or silencing the concerns of the other.
‘Hate merchant’ masquerading as ‘fact-checker’
The Hemant Malviya episode reaffirms what many have come to suspect: that Mohammed Zubair is not an impartial fact-checker but a narrative mercenary. His platform is not about truth; it’s about weaponising selective truth to inflame communal tensions and undermine institutions.
By omitting the Lord Shiva reference, Zubair once again prioritised propaganda over principle. His brand of “fact-checking” is not journalism; it’s subversion in disguise.
News