The Patiala House Court in Delhi has granted bail to Alt News Co-Founder and serial fake news peddler Mohammed Zubair in the Delhi FIR stemming from a tweet he wrote in 2018. He has been asked to furnish a surety of Rs 50,000.
On July 14, Patiala House Court Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala stated that the orders on Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair’s bail petition will be announced on Friday.
BREAKING: Mohd. Zubair granted bail on surety of INR 50,000 by Delhi Court in Delhi FIR registered against him for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity #MohammadZubair
— LawBeat (@LawBeatInd) July 15, 2022
Zubair sought bail from the court after the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate rejected his plea on July 2 and sentenced him to 14 days in judicial prison. He was charged by the Delhi Police for violating the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act of 2010 and inciting animosity amongst religious groups through his tweets (FCRA). On June 17, Delhi Police arrested Zubair.
Zubair had addressed the court through his lawyer, Vrinda Grover, to seek bail in the FIR filed by the Delhi Police. During the hearing, Advocate Grover claimed that there was nothing incorrect with Zubair’s tweet because it was a clip from the 1983 Hindu film ‘Kisi Se Na Kehna.’ In opposition to her argument, Special Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava stated that Zubair’s post from 2018 still remains, and the ramifications and impacts of the tweet have persisted.
Zubair was detained initially under Sections 153A and 295 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). More Sections, including 295A, 201, and 120B of the IPC, as well as Section 35 of the FCRA Act, were invoked against him as the case proceeded.
Several other cases have been filed against Zubair in Uttar Pradesh’s various districts. He petitioned the Supreme Court on Thursday, demanding that six FIRs registered against him in Uttar Pradesh be annulled. The FIRs registered in Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, and two in Hathras are challenged in his petition.
Yesterday, a court in UP’s Hathras ordered Zubair to remain under judicial custody for 14 days. He is yet to get bail in that case, so it is unlikely that he will be freed as of now.
The appeal also questions the Uttar Pradesh Police’s constitution of an SIT to investigate all cases against him. The Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a two-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into six complaints filed against Mohammad Zubair.
