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Temporary relief for journalist Mohd Zubair from Supreme Court in UP case
Mohd Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police over a 2018 tweet for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
The Supreme Court on Friday gave a temporary relief to Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair after he had filed a petition, challenging the Allahabad High Court’s refusal to quash a first information report (FIR) against him in Uttar Pradesh. The court agreed to give him an interim bail for five days.
The bail "shall be conditional, and the petitioner shall not make any tweets, and he will not leave Delhi; other conditions of the bail will be fixed by the Sitapur district court (in UP)," the top court highlighted, making it clear that this order pertains to the Sitapur case and will not interfere with any other FIR against Zubair. The 33-year-old is currently in the custody of the UP Police and he is also facing judicial custody in connection with another FIR filed by the Delhi Police. Meanwhile, the court stressed that Zubair will not tamper with evidence - electronic or otherwise in any place.
In the top court plea, Zubair's lawyer had cited threat to his life.
During the hearing, the fact-checker was accused of "suppressing information" on the UP case by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta amid heated arguments.
Zubair is "guilty of purposefully suppressing the information about his bail being rejected on Thursday and the UP Police being handed over his custody in connection with the FIR related to his tweet calling Hindu priests hate mongers," the Solicitor General told the Supreme Court. Mehta said that his petition sought release on bail. "This would have amounted to setting aside a speaking order passed by a jurisdictional court. This is something very serious," he added.
Presenting arguments on the journalist's behalf, his lawyer Colin Gonsalves told the top court: "Zubair only said till hate mongers like this are there, who else do we need. All the others are released on bail but I, a secular tweeter, was arrested. When I call them hatemongers I am not wrong."
"We seek quashing of proceedings, and questions of police or judicial custody are irrelevant now. There's no case made out and the proceedings need to be quashed," he added.
This is the second case linked to Zubair that is being heard in courts after he was arrested by the Delhi Police last week. He was sent to judicial custody for 14 days on Saturday.
“You cannot play with the system,” Mehta said on Friday, highlighting that against the Allahabad High Court order of June 10, refusing to quash FIR, was mentioned before the Supreme Court on Thursday. An artificial urgency is created by suppressing orders passed by courts below, he said.
"There is something more than meets the eye as the petitioner has suppressed information about Delhi FIR. The matter is not about few tweets but his overall conduct is under investigation whether he is part of a larger syndicate indulging in sensationalising. The Delhi FIR also talks about funds received from countries inimical to India," he stressed in sharp comments.
The Supreme Court will take up the matter after the next week.
