The Supreme Court Friday granted interim bail for five days to Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair in connection with an FIR lodged in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur district against him for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
The top court asked Zubair not to tweet anything regarding the matter and not to go beyond the jurisdiction of the Delhi court.
The bench clarified that the interim bail order pertains to the FIR registered in Sitapur and has nothing to do with the case filed against Zubair in Delhi. He said that he has not stayed the investigation in the case registered in Sitapur and the police can confiscate laptops and other electronic devices if needed.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, said during the hearing that Zubair would remain in custody as per the order of the Delhi court.
Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through a tweet. He said that the religious sentiments of a particular community may be stirred up by Zubair publicly calling the saints “spreaders of hatred”.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for Zubair, submitted that his client has admitted to the tweets, but these tweets did not constitute an offense and they only mentioned offenses of making hate speech and the police Later took action against the perpetrators.
