AltNews co-founder gets interim bail but will have to stay in custody

SC grants temporary relief after Zubair ’s counsel underlines that those accused of hate speeches are free while a man who has exposed them is behind bars

Mohammed Zubair.: File photo

PTI   |   New Delhi   |   09.07.22  : The Supreme Court on Friday granted five days’ interim bail to AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair in the Sitapur case but he will remain in custody in the Delhi case in keeping with a Delhi court’s orders.

The apex court granted the temporary relief after Zubair’s counsel underlined that those accused of hate speeches were free while a man who had exposed them was behind bars.

However, the court barred Zubair from posting anything on Twitter and asked him not to tamper with evidence, electronic or any other kind.

It clarified that its interim bail order pertained only to the case in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, and had nothing to do with the Delhi case. Zubair is currently in judicial custody in Delhi.

Zubair has been booked in Sitapur for outraging religious feelings and making lascivious statements through a tweet about alleged hate mongering by certain Hindu religious leaders.

In the Delhi case, he is accused of offences ranging from promoting enmity between religions and outraging religious feelings to foreign contribution violations.

Zubair had approached the apex court after Allahabad High Court dismissed his challenge to the Sitapur FIR. Delhi High Court is yet to hear his plea against the Delhi FIR, registered over a 2018 tweet.

During Friday’s hearing, senior advocate Colin Gonzalves, appearing for Zubair, said it was ironic that those who had delivered hate speeches were on bail while his client, who had exposed these hate speeches, was in custody.

Zubair was arrested by the Delhi police on June 27, weeks after he had called out then BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s derogatory comments on Prophet Mohammed.

“What has this country become?” Gonzalves asked. He underlined that Zubair’s job as part of a fact-checking website was to expose hate speech and fake news.

The vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and J.K. Maheshwari issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on Zubair’s plea and listed the next hearing, before a regular bench, for July 12.

“In the meanwhile, the petitioner shall be granted interim bail in connection with FIR No. 0226 dated June 1, 2022 lodged at Police Station Khairabad, District Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh for a period of five days from today or until further orders of the Regular Bench on terms and conditions to be imposed by the Judicial Magistrate-I, Sitapur, which shall include the conditions that the petitioner shall not post any tweets and shall not tamper with any evidence, electronic or otherwise in Bengaluru or anywhere else,” the bench said in its order.

It clarified that it had not stayed the investigation in the Sitapur case and the police could seize Zubair’s laptop and other electronic gadgets if they wanted.

Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, had earlier claimed that Zubair was part of a syndicate that regularly posted tweets meant to destabilise the country.

“We don’t want to disclose much since the investigation is pending but there is a question of money involved in the case. Money has been donated to him from the countries which are inimical to India,” he said.

Gonzalves said there was a threat to Zubair’s life and he needed to be protected.

The court directed that the Sitapur magistrate’s orders remanding Zubair and denying him bail be translated into English and filed along with other documents before the next hearing.

Zubair has in his plea to the apex court argued that the police have devised a strategy to intimidate “secular persons” by implicating in “communal crimes” those protesting hate speeches.