Zubair's interim bail extended by SC; next hearing on Sep 7

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended till further orders the interim bail of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in a case lodged against him in the Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly outraging religious sentiments.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna was told by Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, that it wants to file a counter affidavit to Zubair's plea seeking quashing of the FIR lodged in the case.

Raju said that since Zubair has already been granted bail in the matter, there should not be any objection from his side to grant time to file the affidavit.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for Zubair, said he has already been granted interim bail till Tuesday by the vacation bench of this court and they would also like to file their reply to the counter affidavit to be filed by the state government.

The bench then asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file its response in four weeks and listed the plea for a final hearing on September 7.

It said that rejoinder, if any needs to be filed by Zubair's side, then it should be filed in two weeks thereafter.

The relief granted by the top court for Zubair will not have any effect as he is in judicial custody as per the order of a Delhi court in another case.

Also on Tuesday, the Delhi court posted for July 14 hearing on a bail plea filed by Zubair in a case related to an "objectionable tweet" he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity.

Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets.

The Delhi Police has invoked new provisions -- sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 35 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act -- against Zubair.

On July 1, the Delhi High Court sought a response from Delhi Police on Zubair's plea challenging the legality of his police remand in a case related to an alleged objectionable tweet he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity. The matter is listed for hearing before the High Court on July 27.

On July 8, a vacation bench of the top court granted five-day interim bail to Zubair in the case lodged at Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh.

It had barred Zubair from posting anything on Twitter and said he shall not tamper with any evidence, electronic or otherwise.

It had also clarified that its interim bail order is with respect to the First Information Report (FIR) lodged in Sitapur and has nothing to do with a separate case registered against the journalist in Delhi.

The FIR was lodged against Zubair in Uttar Pradesh under Indian Penal Code section 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) and section 67 of the IT Act here on a complaint by Hindu Sher Sena Sitapur district president Bhagwan Sharan on June 1.

Sharan had filed the complaint for a tweet by Zubair in which he allegedly called 3 Hindutava leaders- Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati, Bajrang Muni and Anand Swaroop as "hate mongers".

Zubair while seeking bail from the top court has submitted in his plea that there is a "new police strategy for registering FIRs in hate crime cases against the criminals as well as those monitoring and protesting hate crimes."

He has alleged that the strategy is to "stifle" the freedom of speech of secular persons in society who stand up against communal elements.

He has sought quashing of the FIR and bail in a case registered against him in the Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly outraging religious feelings. He also alleged there is a threat to his life in UP.

The appeal of Zubair against the Allahabad High Court order of June 10 was filed through advocate Satya Mitra.

The appeal of the journalist from the fact-checking website has sought a further stay of the investigation in the Sitapur FIR and a direction to the UP government not to proceed, prosecute or arrest him.

"There is a new strategy afoot of the police in communal crime cases. That is to register FIRs against those engaging in hate speech and communal crimes, as well as to rope in all secular elements monitoring such crimes and protesting police inaction against the wrongdoers.

"This is done with the intention of stifling freedom of speech of secular persons in society who stand up against communal elements and to put fear into them so that they no longer protest," according to Zubair's petition.

The petition said it is therefore imperative that the top court understand this new strategy and nip it in the bud so that secular social activism continues on its path and plays the most necessary role in society to stand up to communalism.

Zubair submitted that the allegations in the impugned FIR (lodged in Sitapur) even if taken on its face value and if accepted in entirety do not prima facie disclose any offence, and that is a fit ground for quashing of FIR, as has been held in a catena of judgments of the apex court.

He has said those who engage in hate speech are numerous and many.

"They are well organised. They operate as a group identifying secular persons who speak out against hate speech and then contact one another to file multiple FIRs against innocent people who are speaking out bravely against hate speech ," he added.