In a case involving a tweet from 2018, the co-founder of Alt News, Mohammed Zubair, was granted bail on Friday by a Delhi court. The court noted that “the voice of dissent is vital for healthy democracy. Therefore, it is not appropriate to apply Sections 153A (promoting enmity) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts to incite religious emotions) of the IPC for the simple act of criticizing any political party.
The Delhi Police detained Mr. Zubair on June 27 in connection with this FIR, which was initiated in response to a social media complaint that it injured Hindus’ religious feelings. The tweet in question included a picture of a fictional hotel whose name had been altered from “Honeymoon hotel” to “Hanuman hotel” in the 1983 CBFC-approved movie Kissi Se Na Kehna. With this, Mr. Zubair has written on the wall, “Honeymoon Hotel Before 2014/Hanuman Hotel After 2014.”
The applicant/accused is also alleged to have used the words “Before 2014 and After 2014” to point out towards a political party, according to Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala, who granted Mr. Zubair bail in this case. Political parties in Indian democracies are amenable to criticism… A vibrant democracy needs the dissenting voice.
The writer has been given bail in the Delhi Police case, but he will not be released from custody until all six FIRs filed against him in Uttar Pradesh have been resolved. In three of the six U.P. cases, Mr. Zubair has been detained (Hathras, Lakhimpur Kheri, and Sitapur). He is currently in judicial detention in the Hathras and Lakhimpur Kheri cases, while the Supreme Court has given him interim bail in the Sitapur case. The top court has already received a petition from Mr. Zubair’s attorneys asking that the U.P. FIRs be dismissed or combined and transferred to Delhi.
Regarding the case involving the 2018 tweet, the judge ruled that it was OK to name a hotel or other establishment after a Hindu deity if done so without malice because “Hindu faith is one of the oldest and most tolerant.”
The statement continued, “It is also not inappropriate to mention that the alleged tweet of the accused was made in the year 2018 but that up until the date of registration of the current FIR in 2022, no other complaint was received that the accused’s tweet is offensive to the Hindu community or disrespectful of Lord Hanuman.”
The Delhi Police had filed the FIR in response to a Twitter user’s hurt feelings, but the court noted that “till today during the investigation, the police has failed to establish the identity of said Twitter user who felt offended by the tweet of the accused” and record their statement in accordance with Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
The court agreed with Mr. Zubair’s attorneys that he and his company Alt News had taken all necessary precautions as required by Section 39 of the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act to prevent the receipt of any foreign contribution with regard to the newly added charge under Section 35 of the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act.
The journalist had claimed that they had made it plain on their website that they do not accept international remittances and that their payment gateway had added that information as well. He had also claimed that using the website to donate requires one to provide their citizenship, PAN, and other information.
The court cited a Supreme Court decision to reiterate that the object of denying bail is neither punitive nor preventative and that deprivation of liberty must be considered a punishment unless it is proven that it is necessary to ensure an accused’s presence at their trial. The court noted that all of the evidence in the case is documentary in nature, that the police had already questioned Mr. Zubair in custody for five days, and that they had already made recoveries in the case.
On condition that he not leave the country without the court’s express approval and that he turn in his passport to the police within three days of his release from custody, the court granted Mr. Zubair bail on a bond of 50,000 and one surety of the same amount.
