SC Declares Interim Bail to Zubair in All Six Cases
Mohammed Zubair, who was arrested on June 27th in a case filed in Delhi, got bail from Tihar Jail on Wednesday evening.
SC granted an interim bail to, Alt News co-founder, Mohammed Zubair a bail on Wednesday by demobilizing the Special Investigation Team formed by Uttar Pradesh, declaring that there is no justification in keeping him under continued custody for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
D Y Chandrachur, Surya Kant, and A S Bopanna said in the court’s order, “Having regard to the fact that the petitioner has been subjected to a comprehensive investigation by the Delhi Police, we find no reason for his deprivation of personal liberty to sustain”.
During the investigation, the six FIRs in Up were transferred to the Special Cell of Delhi Police. It involved offensive tweets. Two of the six cases are registered in Hathras- each in Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, Lakhimpur, Kheri, and Sitapur districts.
A charge sheet for the seventh case on Chandauli has been filed before Chief Judicial Magistrate in Delhi’s Patiala House Courts for trial. The case was filed against Mohammad Zubair, by an employee of Sudarshan News for spreading misinformation about the news outlet.
The benches stated that other than the seven cases, any other FIR filed, on the tweets will be taken up by the Delhi Police Special Cell.
This bail has granted Mohammad Zubair the liberty to move and cancel the cases that have been transferred to the Delhi High Court.
The bench said that The Special Investigation team formed by the Director General of Police in Uttar Pradesh shall be dissolved.
They also said that a copy of the detailed order dictated by the court must be made available to the bench. They also added that the Superintendent at Tihar jail must perform necessary steps to ensure the release of petitioner from the judicial custody by 6 pm on July 21.
Senior Advocate General of Uttar Pradesh, Garima Prashad asked the benches to impose conditions on Zubair from further tweeting and not meddle with the evidence after his bail was dictated by the court.
Justice Chandrachur said that asking for bail conditions to make Mohammad Zubair restricted from writing on tweets is like asking a lawyer not to argue. He added, “How can we tell a journalist not to write?”
On contrary, Prasad argued by denying to consider Mohammad Zubair as a journalist, promoting malicious content.
Chandrachur said that everything we say in public or private, we have to be answerable to the court. He said it’s unethical to pass an order telling someone will not speak.
Mohammed Zubair gets paid from his tweets
She added that Mohammed Zubair gets paid from his tweets, the more spiteful the content gets, the he earns more. Prasad claimed that Zubair got, over Rs. 2 crores from his tweets. Prasad referred to a tweet on an assault of a 72-year-old Muslim man, which was made viral by Zubair, arousing high tensions among the public after his tweet. She added that the video was retweeted by his followers and the entire incident was blown up, creating communal disharmony. On June 22 he had to give a written apology for making the video viral without checking the facts.
Prasad said that the SIT was formed to keep the gravity, so that, the local police stations do not apply the sections meaninglessly.
Justice Chandrachur added that where would the justice lie, as when the Delhi Police investigated on the same tweets, Zubair was being granted regular bail from Patiala House courts on 15th July 2022.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police is also investigating Zubair under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation Act), 2010 apart from the cases that involve hurting religious sentiments.
