SC grants interim bail to Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair in UP Police FIR

The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Alt News cofounder Mohammad Zubair in the case registered against him in Sitapur Uttar Pradesh The court also issued notice to the state police on his plea challenging the Allahabad High Court order The Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari granted interim bail to Zubair in a plea challenging the Allahabad High Court order refusing to quash FIR registered for a tweet in which three Hindu seers were allegedly called hate mongersThe interim bail to Zubair was granted for 5 days on the condition that he will not post any fresh tweets on the issue related to the case and not leave the jurisdiction of the Sitapur Magistrates courtUPDATE Supreme Court adds that Zubair shall not tamper with electronic evidence in Bengaluru or anywhere elsemdash ANI ANI July 8 2022The apex court also said that Zubair shall not tamper with electronic evidence in Bengaluru or anywhere elseSolicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the Supreme Court that yesterday Zubairs counsel mentioned that there is a threat to his lifeHes in judicial remand his bail was rejected yesterday by Sitapur court and was sent to remand This fact was not disclosed by him to the top court Its a clear purposeful suppression of facts said MehtaSuch conduct of suppression of facts should not be encouraged He is seeking bail from the Supreme Court without telling this court that his bail was rejected yesterday by the Sitapur court he addedSenior advocate Colin Gonsalves representing Zubair told the Supreme Court that it was written in the petition that Sitapur police seek police custody of Zubair The order challenged in the apex court is of the Allahabad High CourtGonsalves says no criminal case can be made out against Zubair The foundation of this case is a tweet We seek quashing of proceedings and questions of police or judicial custody are irrelevant now Theres no case made out and the proceedings need to be quashedZubair has approached the top court challenging the Allahabad High Courts June 10 order where it had refused to quash an FIR registered against him in Sitapur Uttar Pradesh saying that it was premature to interfere when the investigation was at a preliminary stageAlso Read Uttar Pradesh Police arrests man for threatening to behead Nupur SharmaFiling the appeal against the High Court order Zubair also sought direction to stay the investigation in the case and direction for UP police not to proceed prosecute or arrest him on the basis of the FIRThe FIR was registered for a tweet in which he allegedly called Hindu seers Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Bajrang Muni and Anand Swaroop hate mongers on TwitterThe FIR was lodged against Zubai on June 1 under Section 295 A of the IPC and Section 67 of the IT Act at the Khairabad police station in Sitapur district for deliberately outraging religious feelings of the seersHis appeal in the apex court has said that the allegations of the FIR against him are absolutely false and baselessHe claimed to be innocent and said he said that he has not committed any offenceThe police are threatening to arrest the petitioner Zubair and the life and liberty of the petitioner is in danger The inclusion of this criminal offence in the FIR portrays the cavalier malicious and arbitrary manner in which the Respondents UP police have acted against the Petitioner the appeal statedIt further stated There is a new strategy afoot of the police in communal crime cases That is to register FIRs against those engaging in hate speech and communal crimes as well as to rope in all secular elements monitoring such crimes and protesting police inaction against the wrongdoers This is done with the intention of stifling the freedom of speech of secular persons in society who stand up against communal elements and putting fear into them so that they no longer protest It is therefore imperative that this Court understand this new strategy and nip it in the bud so that secular social activism continues on its path and plays the most necessary role in society to stand up to communalismZubair is already in judicial custody in a case registered by the Delhi police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments over a tweet posted by him in 2018This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever