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Mohammed Zubair’s interim bail extended in Sitapur case
The interim bail granted to journalist Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking website Alt News, in a case filed against him in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur, has been extended till further orders by the Supreme Court, which will hear the matter again on September 7.
The interim bail granted to journalist Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking website Alt News, in a case filed against him in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur, has been extended till further orders by the Supreme Court, which will hear the matter again on September 7. However, Zubair remains in Delhi’s Tihar jail in connection with a similar case filed against him in Delhi.
A bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and AS Bopanna extended the interim bail after additional solicitor general SV Raju, appearing for the state government, sought some time to file a reply to Zubair’s petition.
“The counter affidavit (by Uttar Pradesh) shall be filed within a period of four weeks. Rejoinder, if any, be filed within a period of two weeks thereafter,” the bench recorded in its order. “The interim bail which was granted by this court on July 8, 2022 shall continue to remain in operation, pending further orders. List the Special Leave Petition for final disposal on a non-miscellaneous day, namely, on September 7, 2022,” the bench said.
Zubair has asked that the first information report (FIR) against him at Sitapur be quashed and he be protected from arrest in the meantime.
His appeal before a Delhi sessions court against the rejection of his bail plea (in the Delhi case) by a magistrate also came up for a hearing on Tuesday. The matter was adjourned to Thursday on the prosecution’s request.
Zubair was also sent to judicial custody for 14 days in Lakhimpur, Uttar Pradesh in connection to a case registered last year by Lakhimpur Kheri police on a charge of promoting enmity. The fact-checker was remanded to judicial custody by a local court on July 11. He was brought back to Delhi on Monday night and is in Tihar jail.
He faces similar charges in a case lodged by the Delhi Police last month over a 2018 tweet, in which he was sent to judicial custody for 14 days by a Delhi magisterial court on July 2. The magistrate had on that day rejected his bail plea, noting no ground for grant of bail was made out considering the nature and gravity of the alleged offences.
While he was in the judicial custody in connection to the Delhi case, Zubair was taken to Sitapur by Uttar Pradesh Police, where the FIR alleges that he hurt religious sentiments by calling three right-wing religious leaders “hate mongers” after they made comments against other religious communities.
It was at this stage that Zubair filed a petition in the Supreme Court on July 7. During the hearing before a vacation bench in the top court on July 8, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for him, argued for the Sitapur FIR to be quashed entirely, saying it was ironical that the people who made the hate speeches were on bail while Zubair, who exposed those comments with social media posts, was in custody.
Gonsalves also detailed the remarks by the three right-wing leaders, Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati, Bajrang Muni and Anand Swaroop, who were prosecuted for their remarks, while another bench in the Supreme Court in April took strong exceptions against the hate speeches being delivered at various religious events in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.
In his plea, Zubair claimed that there is a threat to his life as he is being shuttled between states.
Countering Zubair’s submissions, solicitor general Tushar Mehta and Raju said that their objection to his plea emanated from the fact that a thorough probe is required whether the accused is a part of a “larger syndicate” to spread communal hatred on social media.
The bench on July 8 granted Zubair interim bail till July 12 in connection with the Sitapur FIR and noted that the journalist was deprived of his liberty.
As Zubair continued to be in judicial custody in connection with the Delhi FIR, he was produced by Uttar Pradesh police before a court in Lakhimpur Kheri, where another criminal case was lodged against him in September last year for allegedly misrepresenting a news story in his tweet with an intention to provoke enmity.
On Monday, he was sent to judicial custody for 14 days by the Lakhimpur court, which will take up his bail plea on Wednesday. In all the three cases, Zubair faces a maximum punishment of up to five years in jail.
