On July 18, 2022, the Supreme Court directed the Uttar Pradesh Police to not take any precipitative action against Alt-News Co-founder and Fact-checker Mohammed Zubair in connection with the 5 First Information Reports (FIR) registered against him over his tweets till July 20, reported LiveLaw.
The bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna issued notice on the writ petition filed by Zubair seeking to quash the FIRs registered against him by the UP Police and listed the matter for day after tomorrow.
An urgent listing of his plea was sought yesterday by his lawyer Vrinda Grover to the bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana who directed to list the matter before Justice DY Chandrachud.
While hearing the matter, Justice Chandrachud reportedly remarked, “Contents of all FIRs seem to be similar. What seems to be happening is, as he gets bail in one case, he is remanded in another. This vicious cycle is continuing.”
The bench listed the matter on July 20 and in the meantime, directed the UP Police not to take precipitative action against the Zubair in 5 FIRs without the Court’s permission.
Zubair was earlier granted bail in the Sitapur FIR case, and the Patiala House Court granted him regular bail in the Delhi Police FIR.
Arguments in Court
Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the petitioner, submitted, “Petitioner is a journalist. He is co-founder of AltNews. There are now six FIR’s including the UP in six districts – two in Hathras, one in Lakhimpur Kheri, one in Muzaffarnagar, one in Ghaziabad and one in Sitapur. As soon as this court granted relief in Sitapur case, warrant comes in the Lakhimpur Kheri case. On July 15, the Delhi Court grants me bail in Delhi FIR. As soon as order comes, a warrant from Hathras arrives. As we speak now, he is produced in Hathras. In most FIRs, 153A, and 295A were added. In some 67 IT Act added. The maximum punishment is 3 years.”
However, the Solicitor General reportedly submitted, “In Hathras, application for 14-day police custody is listed for hearing today. Arguments are heard. Learned Judge may or may not grant remand. I don’t think your lordships should pass an order preventing a competent judge from passing an order. The same can be modified, varied once it is done.”
In response, Grover reportedly submitted that the FIRs are based on old tweets but the police are not giving it a ‘larger conspiracy’ angle and that these issues are already covered by the FIR registered in Delhi alongwith the devices being seized by the police. She reportedly added, “Rewards have been announced for registering FIR against Zubair. I am shocked by this. 15,000 announced for the person who files the first FIR, 10,000 for filing a complaint. There is evergreening of his custody by seeking remand in multiple cases. The Delhi police is looking into all tweets. I have filed their status report. Grant interim bail till tomorrow morning when the matter is considered tomorrow.”
The judges then decided to grant interim relief to Zubair for two days and directed for listing it day after tomorrow. The bench also directed the UP Police to not take any precipitative action against Zubair in connection with the five FIRs.
It is when the SG argued against a judicial order being considered as a precipitative action that Justice Chandrachud reportedly retorted, “Contents of all FIRs seem to be similar. What seems to be happening is, as he gets bail in one case, he is remanded in another. This vicious cycle is continuing.”
On July 15, 2022, a Delhi Court granted bail to Muhammad Zubair in a case related to 2018 tweet that allegedly hurt religious sentiments and promoted enmity. However, he still remains in judicial custody for two other cases filed in Uttar Pradesh. The Hathras Court remanded him to 14-day judicial custody, setting the next date of hearing on July 27.
Zubair has been charged under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity), 295A (acts to outrage religious feelings), and 298 (uttering words to wound religious feelings), along with section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material) of the Information Technology Act.
As per reports, Zubair was first arrested by the Delhi police on June 27 over a tweet posted by him in 2018 and was later remanded in the other FIRs registered by the UP Police.
On July 8, Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari granted him interim bail in the Sitapur case 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.
On July 12, 2022, the Supreme Court extended the five days interim bail granted to him in the case where he had called three religious leaders “hate mongers” (Sitapur case). A bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud 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 promote enmity between different religious groups.
Separate FIRs have been lodged against Zubair in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, and Hathras districts on charges of allegedly hurting religious feelings, making sarcastic remarks on news anchors, disrespecting Hindu gods, and inflammatory posts.
Copy of the order maybe read here:
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