A Supreme Court (SC) bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud issued an order today ordering Uttar Pradesh Police to refrain from taking any precipitation action against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair until July 20. The court further noted in the order that it will hear the matter again on July 20 and will assess Zubair’s bail application in all 5 cases filed in UP.
BREAKING:#SupremeCourt directs UP police not to take any precipitative steps against #MohammadZubair in the 5 FIRs against him without its permission. The court will hear the matter on July 20, 2022.
— LawBeat (@LawBeatInd) July 18, 2022
On Monday, SC agreed to hear Mohammad Zubair’s appeal to dismiss six FIRs that had been filed against him in Uttar Pradesh. Zubair is a co-founder of Alt News. Through his lawyer Vrinda Grover, Zubair requested SC to immediately list his case for the quashing of FIRs that had been lodged against him in many districts of Uttar Pradesh for inciting religious feelings and derogatory remarks against Hindus. The constitution of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) by the UP government to look into the six cases has also been contested in the plea.
Notably, on Saturday, July 16, 2022, a sessions court in Mohammadi, Lakhimpur, Uttar Pradesh, rejected co-founder of Alt News Mohammed Zubair’s petition for bail in the Sudarshan News fact-check case. A hearing on police custody remand is scheduled for July 20.
The Uttar Pradesh government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into all the accusations against Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair. Over half a dozen FIRs under various sections of the Indian Penal Code have been filed against Mohammed Zubair for his defamatory comments against Hindu seers, hurting religious sentiments by sharing disparaging posts against Hindu Gods, and making critical remarks against News anchors among other things.
After being apprehended by Delhi police on June 27, in connection with an FIR lodged against him for allegedly inciting religious sentiments through a tweet sent in 2018, Zubair is now being held in Tihar jail.
