Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: July 8, 2022 at 15:37 IST
In a case brought by the Uttar Pradesh Police (UP Police) against Mohammed Zubair for hurting religious sentiments, a local court in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday rejected bail plea by Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair and remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days.
Since July 4, Zubair has been held in judicial custody.
The Bail Plea was denied by Judge Abhinav Srivastava on the grounds that it was possible for the accused to influence witnesses or repeat offences. It was observed that the matter was serious and not bailable.
After examining the material, the court noted that Zubair had been accused of deliberately spreading hatred in society, causing Muslim disputes, hurting Hindus’ religious sentiments, and spreading hatred amongst individuals of different sects.
The UP police filed a complaint against Zubair for hurting religious sentiments after he called Mahant Bajrang Muni, Yati Narsinghanand, and Swami Anand Swaroop “hate mongers” in a tweet.
Zubair was charged with violating Sections 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious sentiments of any class by insulting that class’s religion or religious beliefs), 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form).
In the meantime, Zubair has moved the Supreme Court to have the FIR against him quashed.
Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves presented Zubair’s plea to dismiss the FIR before a Supreme Court vacation court on Thursday morning.
Only the Chief Justice of India (CJI) could list matters, said the Bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari. As a result, it directed that the matter be listed tomorrow, subject to CJI clearance.
His prior request to have the case quashed was dismissed by the Allahabad High Court, which is why he appealed to the Supreme Court.
In another case that the Delhi Police has filed, in which he has been charged with promoting enmity among religious groups, Zubair is already being held in judicial custody. This case was based on another tweet put out by him in 2018.
