Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, July 8: The co-founder of the fact-checking website AltNews, Mohammed Zubair, was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court on Friday for a period of five days in connection with a FIR filed against him by the UP Police for a tweet in which he is accused of labelling three Hindu seers, Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati, Bajrang Muni, and Anand Swaroop as ‘Hate mongers.’
The relief is subject to the requirement that he not leave the jurisdiction of the Delhi court (where he is needed in connection with another FIR) and not publish any additional tweets, according to the division bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari.
“We are making it very clear, that this (interim bail) is in relation to FIR dated 1 June 2022 of Sitapur (Uttar Pradesh) and not any other FIR against the petitioner. The petitioner shall not tamper electronic evidence in Bangalore (his residence) or anywhere else,” the order stated.
The bench also made it clear that the investigation in the FIR has not been suspended and that the interim relief does not extend to any other cases that are still ongoing against the defendant. The Allahabad High Court’s rejection to dismiss the FIR was being challenged in Zubair’s SLP, which was being considered by the court.
