By Alishan Jafri 

New Delhi: Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair has received a fresh flurry of online threats from several pro-Hindutva influencers, with some even inciting violence against the journalist. The threats range from those demanding lone wolf attacks against Zubair to seeking “extrajudicial steps” against him.

A few of the threats came after Zubair confronted a man who made abusive references to  women in the fact-checker’s family. In another instance, a Supreme Court lawyer named Shashank Shekhar Jha tweeted that he would never forgive Zubair.

Among those who issued threats against Zubair are right-wing columnist Harshil Mehta and former OpIndia editor Ajeet Bharti. “The plan is on. This time he will be totally circumcised so much that he’ll need a pipe to urinate,” tweeted Bharti. Some users suggested lone wolf attacks and “Akhlaq” like treatment.

In 2015, Mohammed Akhlaq was beaten to death by a mob on the suspicion of eating beef in Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri district.

“I am not aware of any death threat, no such information has come to me,” said Bengaluru police commissioner Pratap Reddy. “If Zubair approaches us, we will consider giving security based on the case.”

Pratik Sinha, co-founder of Alt News, said that they’re still in consultation with their lawyers and figuring out the correct legal course.

Earlier, Zubair tweeted to say that while he largely ignored or laughed off the torrent of abuse he receives, the flurry of tweets by people about “physically harming & finishing me” had increased after Alt News busted fake propaganda about murderous attacks on migrant Bihari workers in Tamil Nadu. Zubair also told The Wire that he had received threats earlier, but this time the threats were angrier and more explicit…

This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here