Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail for five days to Alt News co-founder and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair in a case registered against him in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh. Issuing notice on his plea, the top court directed the matter to be listed before a regular bench, reported The Indian Express, adding that the bail was granted on the condition that Zubair will remain within the jurisdiction of the Delhi magistrate and not post any tweets until then.
The top court also issued notice to the UP police on Zubair’s plea challenging Allahabad High Court order, reported news agency ANI.
The top court passed this order while hearing Zubair’s plea challenging the Allahabad High Court order refusing to quash an FIR lodged against him after his advocate urged the top court to list the matter for urgent hearing. While arguing before the top court today, Zubair’s advocate Colin Gonsalves, said, “A person who made hate speech has been granted bail but secular tweeter who exposed the venomous language has been jailed.”
Earlier, a local court in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur sent Zubair to 14-day police custody. Zubair is currently lodged at Delhi’s Tihar Jail following his arrest on June 27 after a case was filed against him at the Khairabad police station in UP for hurting religious sentiments through a tweet posted by him in 2018.
Based on a complaint by Bhagwan Sharan on June 1, an FIR was filed against Zubair by the UP police as he was charged with several provisions of the IPC including section 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) and section 67 of the IT Act .
Meanwhile, the Delhi polices has charged Zubair under 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC and section 35 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.