From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Fact-checker Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of Alt News, bombarded with FIRs over the past few weeks, on Friday got a bail from a Delhi court in arrest by Delhi Police last month for his 2018 tweet, but he will still stay in jail over two more cases as also the judicial custody of 14 days ordered on Thursday by a Hathras court in Uttar Pradesh.
Additional sessions judge Devender Kumar Jangala granted Zubair bail in the Delhi case on a personal and surety bond of Rs 50,000 and said he should not leave the country without the court’s permission.
He has already moved the Supreme Court on Thursday to cancel all six cases filed against him by the Uttar Pradesh Police and call off the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed in UP to investigate the cases.
Zubair was arrested on June 27 by Delhi Police over his 4-year old tweet sharing a screenshot from a popular Hindi movie. He was charged and arrested just days after he flagged a video of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s provocative comments on the Prophet Mohammed during a TV debate.
Three cases were filed in Lakhimpur Kheri, Hathras and Sitapur over a tweet in which he called some right wing leaders “hate mongers”.
In Lakhimpur, a Sudarshan News employee filed a case accusing Zubair of misleading people about his channel’s coverage of the Israel-Palestine dispute.
At a hearing on Tuesday, Zubair had requested the Supreme Court to grant him bail and had alleged that he was receiving death threats. Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna gave the UP government four weeks to respond to Zubair’s plea.
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