Supreme Court says "vicious cycle" against Mohammed Zubair, orders no "precipitative action" in 5 UP Police FIRs till July 20

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered that no "precipitative action" be taken against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in 5 first information reports (FIRs) registered against him by the Uttar Pradesh Police (UP Police)..Pertinently, the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna observed that there has been a vicious cycle of action against the journalist after the top court had granted bail to him in a case registered in Sitapur. "We direct registry to list this case on July 20, 2022. In the meantime no precipitative steps shall be taken against petitioner in connection with any of the 5 FIRs without the leave of this court. Issue notice. Request Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to assist the court in this matter," the bench directed. The order passed today would mean that there won't be further action from police seeking remand, production etc.However, Zubair who is already in judicial custody, will continue to remain in jail since no bail has been granted yet.The bench had earlier granted him interim bail in an FIR registered in Sitapur. Subsequently, action was taken against him by the UP Police in 5 other FIRs prompting Zubair to approach the top court seeking quashing of all six FIRs. "When he is granted bail in one another case is listed against him. So the vicious cycle continues," Justice Chandrachud remarked during today's hearing..Zubair in his petition has also raised an alternative prayer to club the six FIRs with the FIR in Delhi where Zubair was first arrested in another case.The six cases registered against the Zubair are in Hathras, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, Lakhimpur Kheri and Sitapur..The petition by Zubair was mentioned today morning before Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana by Zubair's counsel Vrinda Grover.The CJI directed that it be listed before the bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud. Subsequently, Grover mentioned the matter before Justice DY Chandrachud who agreed to hear it on an urgent basis. .When the matter came up for hearing, Grover contended that the FIRs are an abuse of process."There are have been cash rewards announced for registering FIR or to get him arrested. It was said that FIR must be registered to stop relentless attacks on Hindus and the Hindu gods and this act should be on the basis of Dharma. There was a video put up on how to register complaint, this is how criminal law machinery has to be used to target a journalist whom you do not agree with," Grover said.She further submitted there are direct threats of getting him killed. "There has been no action against any twitter handle by the UP Police. on the same subject matter multiple proceedings have been initiated. now they want to go to Calcutta, to Mumbai etc," she said.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, said that these cannot be grounds for bail. The bench after discussing for sometime decided to order protection to Zubair from precipitative action. .The cases against Zubair in Sitapur and Lakhimpur Kheri are for tweets made by the fact checker.The case against Zubair in Sitapur was registered for hurting religious sentiments after he had put out a tweet against Mahant Bajrang Muni, Yati Narsinghanand and Swami Anand Swaroop referring to them as 'hate mongers'.The Supreme Court had granted him interim bail in the Sitapur FIR.The Lakhimpur Kheri case against Zubair was registered last year in September, 2021, under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code [promoting enmity between different groups], on a complaint by one Ashish Kumar Katiyar, a journalist working at Sudarshan TV.The complainant had taken objection to a tweet posted by Zubair in May 2021. In the tweet, Zubair had said that a report carried on the said news channel, which super-imposed an image of a famous Medina mosque on an image of the Gaza strip, incorrectly showed that the said mosque was destroyed in Israeli air-strikes.He is currently in judicial custody in that case.The Uttar Pradesh government had also formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the six cases registered against Zubair in various districts of the State.The SIT is led by Preetinder Singh, Inspector General of Police (Prisons), and has Amit Verma, Deputy Inspector General of Police as a member..Zubair has also been booked by the Delhi Police in another case based on a 2018 tweet by him containing a screenshot of a 1983 Bollywood movie, Kissi se na kehna.A Delhi Court had, on July 15, granted bail to Zubair in that case..[Read Order]

Supreme Court says "vicious cycle" against Mohammed Zubair, orders no "precipitative action" in 5 UP Police FIRs till July 20

Debayan Roy

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