Mohammed Zubair Released from Jail: Fact-checker Mohammed Zubair was released from jail on Wednesday night, 23 days after he was arrested by police for what he called a “highly inflammatory tweet”.
The Supreme Court had granted him bail in all the cases against him in Uttar Pradesh. Shortly after his release, his business partner and Alt News co-founder Prateek Sinha said that Mohammed Zubair “will be back soon”.
Sharing a picture with Mr. Zubair, Mr. Sinha tweeted, “Zubair would like to express heartfelt gratitude to all those who stood by us and supported us over the last few weeks. He will be back soon.”
Mr. Zubair left Delhi’s Tihar Jail at 9 pm and got into a waiting car outside the jail. He showed the victory sign when the journalists asked him to say something.
Mohammed Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police on June 27. Seven more FIRs were registered against him in Uttar Pradesh.
Granting him interim bail, the Supreme Court observed that “there was no justification for keeping him in continuous custody and subjecting him to endless proceedings in various courts”.
The court dissolved the special investigation in UP against Mohammed Zubair and transferred all the cases in UP to Delhi. The judges also rejected the Uttar Pradesh government’s request that Mohammed Zubair be “barred from tweeting”.
“It’s like asking a lawyer not to argue further. How can you tell a journalist that he can’t write? If he does something that violates the law, he is accountable to the law.
But how can we take advance action against a citizen when he is raising his voice? Every citizen is accountable for what he does, whether public or private. We will not pass any such order,” Justice DY Chandrachud said.
The Supreme Court did not quash the FIR (First Information Report) but said it was free to approach the Delhi High Court against all the cases which can be combined into one.
The co-founder of fact-checking website Alt News was arrested over a four-year-old tweet sharing a screenshot of a popular Hindi film.
A few days before his arrest, he had drawn attention to provocative remarks on Prophet Muhammad by suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma during a TV debate.
As soon as he went for bail, a case was registered in UP.
Three cases were registered in Lakhimpur Kheri, Hathras and Sitapur over a tweet in which he called some right-wing leaders “spreaders of hatred”.
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