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UP: Another warrant issued against Zubair
The Supreme Court on Friday granted five days’ interim bail to Zubair in a case registered in Sitapur for hurting religious sentiments through a tweet.
A court in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri has summoned Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair on Monday in a case registered in November last year on the charge of promoting enmity, a senior official said on Saturday.
Hours after the Supreme Court granted interim bail to the journalist, the Lakhimpur Kheri police in Uttar Pradesh issued a fresh warrant on directions of a local court in connection with a case lodged against him at the Mohammadi Kotwali police station in the district, the official said.
The warrant was issued on the orders of additional chief judicial magistrate, according to Arun Kumar Singh, additional superintendent of police, Lakhimpur Kheri. Zubair was served the warrant at Sitapur jail in Uttar Pradesh, where he is presently lodged.
The new warrant was in connection with a case lodged against him at Mohammadi Kotwali police station in Lakhimpur Kheri district last year on the complaint of a private new channel’s reporter for a fact-check tweet.
The Supreme Court on Friday granted five days’ interim bail to Zubair in a case registered in Sitapur for hurting religious sentiments through a tweet. He has been accused of calling some Hindu religious leaders hatemongers.
Zubair was arrested on June 17 by Delhi Police in a case related to an “objectionable tweet” he posted in 2018. He has not been granted bail in the case lodged against him in Delhi.
A criminal case was registered against Zubair based on a September 2021 complaint by Ashish Katiyar, a reporter with a private news channel and a resident of Mohammadi town in Lakhimpur Kheri. Katiyar had accused Zubair of misrepresenting a news item aired on his channel in a tweet that created unrest in the society, police said.
Zubair is to be produced before the magistrate in Mohammadi on July 11 in connection with the 2021 case.
(With agency inputs)
