This story was updated on August 12, 2022

Mohammed Zubair, who helped found “Alt News,” an Indian fact-checking website, was arrested on June 27 for a joke he tweeted based on a screenshot from a 1983 Hindi movie. Alt News has consistently annoyed the right wing Hindu supremacists who dominate Indian politics and the Indian media, even though the site uncovers and debunks all manner of disinformation. 

That said, Zubair seemed to particularly relish his online battles with supporters of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its infamous “IT Cell” trolls.

In the end, he was undone by the lamest of quips. The gag in the movie was a pun on the word “honeymoon” and the Hindu god “Hanuman,” a gentle jab about the need for a hotel for honeymooners to change its name in smalltown India to suit conservative sensibilities.