Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, July 20: In the six information reports (FIRs) the Uttar Pradesh Police had filed against alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted him bail.
After observing that Zubair had already been granted bail by Patiala House court in a related case filed by the Delhi Police, the panel of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and AS Bopanna issued the order.
“Essentially the gravamen of allegations are tweets by him. he has been subjected to fairly sustained probe by Delhi police we dont find reason for his deprivation of liberty to persist further. We direct Zubair be released on bail on each of the FIRs in UP. Existence of powers of arrest must be distinguished from the exercise of powers of arrest which must be used sparingly,” the order said.
The Court added that there is no justification to keep the petitioner in continued detention especially since the gravamen of allegations in UP FIRs is similar to that in Delhi police FIR.
The Court observed that the case brought by the Delhi Police encompasses an investigation into tweets as well as funding-related issues and potential violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
Relevantly, the Court also consolidated all six FIRs filed by the UP Police and moved them to Delhi, disbanding the SIT that had been established by the UP Police.
Six FIRs that the UP Police had filed against Zubair were to be quashed, according to a petition Zubair filed with the Supreme Court.
In six different cities, Hathras, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, Lakhimpur Kheri, and Sitapur cases have been filed against Zubair.
