Supreme Court Orders Release Of Alt News Co-Founder Md Zubair, Grants Interim Bail In All UP FIRs

On Monday, the Supreme Court had directed that no 'precipitative steps' should be taken against Mohammed Zubair and called the FIRs a 'vicious cycle' of police action.

Mohammed Zubair, a journalist and co-founder of fact checking website Alt News, being taken to jail from Patiala House court ( Image Source :PTI )

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of Alt News co-founder Mohmmed Zubair on interim bail in all FIRs lodged by Uttar Pradesh Police. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna also ordered disbanding of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by UP Police for investigation of FIRs against Zubair. The top court asked Zubair to furnish a bail bond of Rs 20,000.

"We are of the view that he should be released on interim bail on all FIRs. It's a set principle of law that power of arrests must be pursued sparingly," the Supreme Court said.

"There is no justification to keep him (Zubair) in continued custody any further and subject him to diverse proceedings when the gravamen of allegations arises from the tweets which forms part of investigation by Delhi Police," the court said.

The court pronounced the order while hearing the plea by Zubair seeking quashing of the six FIRs registered against him for allegedly outraging religious sentiments. Zubair had also challenged the constitution of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) by the UP government to probe these cases. 

"The SIT by UP Police shall be held redundant and be disbanded," the SC said. The SC also ordered clubbing of all the FIRs registered against Zubair and transfered them to Delhi Police Special Cell. The court said Zubair was at liberty to seek quashing of the FIRs before the Delhi High Court.

"The direction to transfer all UP FIRs to Delhi Police Special Cell shall apply to future FIRs which may be registered in future on the basis of tweets," the court said.

On Monday, the Supreme Court had directed that no "precipitative steps" should be taken against the fact-checker and called the FIRs a "vicious cycle" of police action. 

Of the six FIRs registered against him in Uttar Pradesh, Zubair had already been granted interim bail by the top court in the Sitapur case.

Last week, a Delhi court granted bail to Mohammed Zubair in a 2018 tweet case lodged against him by the Delhi Police. The case relates to an "objectionable tweet" Zubair had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity.

As per the FIR, Zubair had used a screengrab of an old Hindi movie that showed an image of a hotel, with its board reading 'Hanuman hotel' instead of 'Honeymoon hotel'. In his tweet, Zubair had written, "BEFORE 2014: Honeymoon Hotel. After 2014: Hanuman Hotel."