Image Courtesy: economictimes.indiatimes.com
The Supreme Court on July 12, 2022 extended the five days interim bail granted to Alt News Co-Founder Mohammed Zubair in the case regarding the three religious leaders, reported Live Law.
Justices D. Y. Chandrachud and AS Bopanna gave the order while adjourning Zubair’s plea challenging the Allahabad High Court’s refusal to quash an FIR filed by Sitapur police. In the FIR the UP police had booked the journalist for calling three Hindu seers Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati, Bajrang Muni and Anand Swaroop as “hate mongers” via a tweet.
Initially, UP police representative ASG S. V. Raju sought time to file a status report in the matter. He argued that this may be done since Zubair is already on interim bail. However, the journalist’s legal representative Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves said that the bail was only for five days and was due to expire by July 13.
As such, the Bench extended his interim bail till further orders and granted the state government four weeks to file its counter. The authorities charged the fact-checking website head for deliberate and malicious acts, intent to outrage religious feelings and promoting enmity between different religious groups.
Earlier on July 8, Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari granted him interim bail under the condition that he will not will not post any further tweets. They made it clear that the court had not stayed the investigation in the FIR and that interim relief does not apply to any other pending case.
He was remanded by a Court in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh in another FIR over a tweet made by him about a report of Sudarshan News TV. Further, he also faces an FIR by Delhi police for a tweet made by him in 2018 that allegedly hurt religious sentiments.
Since his arrest on June 27, Zubair received widespread support from rights groups, activists and journalist groups alike. The Sitapur case will be heard on September 7 for final disposal.
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