Supreme Court restrains UP police from arresting Mohammed Zubair in new case

A total of six first information reports (FIRs) are currently pending against Zubair in Uttar Pradesh in connection with his tweets, over allegations that they promoted enmity between communities and offended religious sentiments.

Concerned over the “vicious circle” of arrests faced by Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in multiple FIRs registered in Uttar Pradesh over his tweets, the Supreme Court on Monday restrained the state police from arresting the journalist in any fresh case until the court considers his petition for interim bail in five criminal cases.

Of the six FIRs against him, Zubair has been arrested in three – one each at Hathras, Sitapur and Lakhimpur Kheri. (ANI)

“What’s happening is that content of the FIRs seems to be similar. The moment he gets bail in one case, another case is filed or he is remanded to custody in another case. So, the vicious cycle continues. We are hence passing this protective order,” said a bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and AS Bopanna, shielding Zubair from further coercive processes.

A total of six first information reports (FIRs) are currently pending against Zubair in Uttar Pradesh in connection with his tweets, over allegations that they promoted enmity between communities and offended religious sentiments. Two of these FIRs are lodged at Hathras, and one each in Sitapur, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar and Lakhimpur Kheri.

Of the six FIRs against him, Zubair has been arrested in three – one each at Hathras, Sitapur and Lakhimpur Kheri. In the FIR lodged at Sitapur, the apex court granted him interim bail on July 8 that was extended last week till September 7.

The first case, in which the fact-checker was arrested on June 27, was registered in Delhi. He was granted bail in this case on July 15 but he remains in jail due to the other five FIRs in UP.

“We direct that no precipitate steps, whatsoever, shall be taken against the petitioner in connection with any of the five FIRs without the leave of the court,” directed the Supreme Court bench on Monday, fixing July 20 to examine Zubair’s plea for interim bail to him in the five FIRs.

The Supreme Court's Monday order offers some level of protection to Zubair: it means that in the two cases at Ghaziabad and Muzaffarnagar, where Zubair has not been arrested so far, he shall not be arrested for the time being. Further, he will not be remanded to any fresh custodial interrogation by the UP police, or be taken to different places in connection to the probe till the time the bench examines his request for an interim bail.

Contending that he is being targeted by a network of influential persons who are weaponising the criminal law machinery to deprive him of his liberty, Zubair approached the Supreme Court on July 14 with a plea to either to quash the six FIRs in UP or club all of them with the FIR at Delhi to avoid multiplicity of proceedings and prolonged detention. In the meantime, the fact-checker sought interim bail in all the UP cases.

The proceedings before the top court on Monday unfolded dramatically. Advocate Vrinda Grover, representing Zubair, mentioned the petition for an urgent listing before Chief Justice of India NV Ramana. Asking for a hearing on Monday itself, she complained that Zubair has been taken to Hathras yet again for a fresh police remand.

The CJI asked Grover to seek a hearing from a bench led by justice Chandrachud, which has been hearing Zubair’s previous petition relating to the Sitapur FIR. At 2.30pm, Grover mentioned the matter before Justice Chandrachud, and pleaded for an immediate hearing. Justice Chandrachud was initially reluctant, and pointed out that the copy of the petition will have to be given to the state and others before any order could be passed.

When Grover held her ground, the bench noticed the presence of solicitor general Tushar Mehta in the court. Mindful that Mehta appeared for the UP government in Zubair’s petition against the Sitapur FIR, justice Chandrachud asked the S-G to remain present in the court, and said the matter would be heard after 20 minutes.

Around 3pm, the bench reassembled. Grover rued that as soon as Zubair is sent to judicial custody in one case, a production warrant is issued by a court in relation to another case in UP. “This is an abuse of process of law and this kind of targeting must end... there are rewards being offered to get the FIRs registered against him. Is this how criminal law machinery will be used against a journalist who may have a different view?” she argued.

Grover pointed out that Zubair was currently in Hathras where the police have asked for his custodial interrogation for 14 days so that he can be taken to Kolkata.

“The Delhi Police are conducting an investigation into everything. All his tweets are being scanned and they even expanded the ambit of the case by including charges of financial irregularities in receiving funds. After all this, a Delhi court granted him bail on July 15 but he remains in custody because of the evergreening of custody in one or the other case lodged in UP. Today, the UP police want his custody,” she added.

At this point, Mehta intervened, saying he is yet to go through Zubair’s petition and his contentions but a court of competent jurisdiction cannot be stopped from passing an order. “I don’t think this court can pass an order preventing some other court from passing an order. That order can later be quashed or set aside, but it may not be proper to stop a court of competent jurisdiction from passing an order,” said the law officer.

To this, the bench asked Grover as to the kind of urgent order she is expecting from the court, which will give some time to the state government to respond to the petition for quashing of the FIRs. Grover replied that she is praying for an interim bail in the five FIRs so that her client can be protected.

“Okay, we will list it for consideration of the interim bail on Wednesday. In the meantime, we can say no precipitate steps should be taken against the petitioner,” responded the bench, as it proceeded to pass the short order.

Zubair has filed two petitions in the apex court. He initially approached the court on July 7 for quashing of the FIR against him at Sitapur and the court granted him interim bail. That FIR alleges that he hurt religious sentiments by calling three right-wing religious leaders “hate mongers” after the latter made comments against or threatening other religious communities.

In the second petition, he complained that of the total seven FIRs against him, six FIRs were filed in UP alone although the entire gamut of the accusations against him were being investigated by the Delhi police in an FIR (the seventh, and also the first to be filed) registered last month. Zubair complained that FIRs in UP are a brazen and unconscionable abuse of legal process, and hence deserve to be quashed.