In all first investigation reports (FIRs) currently filed against Mohammed Zubair in Uttar Pradesh, the Supreme Court has granted him provisional bail. Zubair is the co-founder of Alt News.
Any upcoming FIRs filed against him will automatically fall under the shelter of bail as well.
Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and A.S. Bopanna’s bench assigned the Delhi Police Special Cell to handle the current FIRs that had been filed against him in Uttar Pradesh.
Although the court did not throw out the FIRs, it did grant Mr. Zubair the freedom to ask the Delhi High Court to throw out all of the cases against him.
The Bench stated on Monday that the “vicious cycle” of proceedings brought against Mr. Zubair for his tweets appeared to have “similar content” and instructed the State not to take any hasty action against him without the approval of the Supreme Court.
Additionally, the Bench rejected Uttar Pradesh’s request to block Mr. Zubair’s tweets on the grounds that “it may encourage future incident.” “How can we instruct a reporter not to write. How can we know he won’t say anything? He has legal repercussions if he violates the law. We cannot prevent a citizen from speaking. We won’t say anything similar, the justice continued.
Five of the six cases that the Uttar Pradesh Police are looking into involving Mr. Zubair are related to his tweets, in which he either reported hate crimes against Muslims, fact-checked television reports and other online false information, or criticized television networks for holding intergroup discussions.
The other FIR relates to unrest that occurred on June 10 and makes no mention of Mr. Zubair, his job, or social media. Delhi has also received jurisdiction over this case, for which a chargesheet has been submitted.
