New Delhi: Weeks after he was arrested, the Delhi High Court on Friday granted bail to Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in connection with the 2018 tweet case. The bail has been granted on a personal bond and surety of Rs 50,000. The fact-checker will not be able to leave the country without the court’s permission, the verdict said, according to a report in Hindustan Times.
He will stay in jail in over two cases filed in Uttar Pradesh, NDTV reported.
On Thursday, Zubair moved the Supreme Court seeking quashing of the six FIRs lodged against him in several districts of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, and also sought interim bail in all the cases.
The Supreme Court last week gave temporary relief to Zubair as it had agreed to give him interim bail for five days in connection with the UP case. But Zubair could not walk out of jail because of the Delhi Police 2018 tweet case in which he secured bail today.
Delhi Police special public prosecutor Atul Srivastavaon Thursday opposed Zubair’s bail plea in the Delhi high court and submitted that the bail should not be granted at this stage. Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) is also there where the economy is also involved.
Delhi Police said, “56 lakh rupees were received by the organisation where he (Mohd Zubair) is a director violating FCRA. We gave notice to the Razor pay. There is also a certain forgery in this case which may be done, we are looking at that. The bank’s notice has already been issued.”
The Police alleged that it was done in a planned and clever way. “It is not as simple as Zubair’s lawyer has projected,” Delhi Police lawyer submitted.
Delhi Police Special Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava submitted before the sessions court that Zubair through tweets hurt the sentiments of a community. “Hanuman ji is Brahmchari and he through his tweets compared Hanuman ji with Honeymoon,” he said.
Zubair was arrested on June 27 by Delhi Police in a case that is related to an alleged objectionable tweet he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity. From Tihar jail, he was then brought to the Hathras court in connection with a case registered against him for calling Hindu seers ‘hate mongers’. The Uttar Pradesh government set up a two-member SIT, headed by IG Dr Preetinder Singh, to probe six cases lodged against Zubair in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar and Hathras.
