The Allahabad High Court on Thursday refused to quash a first information report against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in a case pertaining to a post on the social media platform X about Hindutva supremacist Yati Narsinghanand, reported Bar and Bench.

A bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Yogendra Kumar Srivastav also extended the interim protection from arrest granted to Zubair in December till the filing of the chargesheet in the case.

The Alt News co-founder was directed to cooperate with the investigation in the meantime, according to Bar and Bench.

Zubair was booked on October 7 for allegedly promoting enmity between religious groups with a post about Narsinghanand.

Narsinghanand, who is the priest of the Dasna Devi temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, reportedly made a derogatory comment about Prophet Muhammad during a lecture on September 29, sparking protests by Muslim groups in several cities.

On October 3, Zubair had shared a purported video of the speech on X and demanded legal action against Narsinghanand.

Several first information reports have also been filed against Narsinghanand for alleged hate speech targeting Muslims.

Zubair had moved the court seeking protection from arrest following the registration of the FIR against him. He also sought the quashing of the FIR.

On December 20, the court granted him interim protection and observed that the Alt News co-founder was not a “dreaded criminal”. He was also directed not to leave the country.