Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, July 12: The interim protection granted to Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of Alt News, by the Supreme Court in the case brought against him by the Uttar Pradesh Police, shall continue until further orders, the Supreme Court said on Monday.
Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna’s bench ordered that the case be scheduled for final resolution on September 7.
Zubair was asking the court to overturn the first information report (FIR) that had been filed against him by the UP Police in Sitapur. The fact-checker had already been granted an interim bail in the case by the Supreme Court’s vacation bench, which was presided over by Justice Indira Banerjee.
“State seeks time to file a counter affidavit. Reply to be filed within 4 weeks and rejoinder within 2 weeks thereafter. Interim bail in Sitapur FIR case shall continue till further orders. List for final disposal on September 7, 2022,” the order said.
Notably, Zubair was charged for Section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of IPC and Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act).
The present appeal resulted from his attempt to have the matter dismissed by the Allahabad High Court being rejected. In addition, Zubair is being sued twice for his tweets: once in Delhi and once in Lakhimpur Kheri, in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
