New Delhi: Mohammad Zubair, the co-founder of the controversial website AltNews, was granted bail by the Supreme Court on Wednesday (July 20) in cases registered in Uttar Pradesh. A bench of Justice DY Chandrachud gave its verdict while hearing the matter. The court has said that it is not correct to keep the petitioner in constant custody, that too when the FIR from the UP Police and the FIR of the Delhi Police are the same.
With this, the court released Zubair on a bail bond of Rs 20,000. The court also said that the relief given to Zubair by them will not only work in the present cases, but if there are other FIRs in this regard, then this order of interim bail will also work. The court also quashed the SIT set up to probe against Zubair and asked all the FIRs to be clubbed in one place and transferred to the Special Cell of the Delhi Police. The court said that the matter will be heard in the Delhi High Court as they have not quashed any FIR. If the petitioners want to get him quashed, they should go to the Delhi High Court under sections 226 and 482 of the CRPC.
Let us know that the Supreme Court has given a verdict while hearing Zubair's petition. In his petition, Zubair had demanded that all the FIRs registered against him in UP be quashed. He was also granted interim bail till his plea is decided. However, advocate Garima Prasad, appearing for the UP government, opposed Zubair's plea. She has told the court that Zubair used to take money in exchange for his tweets and used to incite people and spread communal violence on Jumei. She said Zubair had also admitted that he had received Rs 12 lakh for a tweet and Rs 2 crore for one.
The UP government's counsel also told the court that it was Zubair who had shared a clip of the debate show on May 26, 2022, and asked people why they were not coming forward for the protest. Later, his tweets were used as pamphlets to provoke people after the Jumei prayers. Prasad had also said in court that Zubair was not a journalist. He calls himself a fact-checker. But he spreads propaganda in the name of fact-checking. He made such posts that spread toxins among the people and he used to get money in return for making such poisonous tweets. He took Rs 2 crore for a tweet and Rs 12 lakh for one. He used videos that spread hatred in the country.
Mohammed Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police last month on the basis of an old tweet, accusing him of hurting religious sentiments. At the same time, 6 FIRs were registered against Zubair in UP. Two of them were registered in Hathras, one each in Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, Lakhimpur Kheri and Sitapur. He had gone to the court with an appeal to dismiss these petitions and sought an urgent hearing. However, the CJI had refused to hear the matter immediately, saying it should seek a date from the bench which is already hearing cases related to it.
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