Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair has been given a big relief by the Supreme Court today. The country’s highest court gave him protection in five cases registered against him. At the time the court issued orders to the UP Police not to take any precipitative action on 5 FIRs in the state.
After relief on the petition by Mohammed Zubair seeking cancellation of all the 6 FIRs registered in UP, the court will now hear further on Wednesday. The Supreme Court has reprimanded UP Police saying it is really disturbing to register FIR one after the other.
Also read: Delhi court grants bail to Mohammed Zubair in the 2018 tweet case
The Supreme Court has directed that no action will be taken against Zubair in the five FIRs registered in UP. On the petition of Mohammed Zubair, the Supreme Court has issued a notice and called for a response from the Uttar Pradesh Police.
During the hearing, a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna also observed, “The facts of the FIR are the same in all cases. When he is granted bail in one, another case is listed against him. Looks like a vicious circle.”
There are a total of 6 FIRs against Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of the website Alt News, in 5 districts of UP – Sitapur, Lakhimpur, Hathras, Muzaffarnagar and Ghaziabad. There is also an FIR against him in Delhi. He has got regular bail on July 15 in the case registered in Delhi.
This morning, advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for Zubair, requested a bench headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice NV Ramana for an urgent hearing. The Chief Justice asked him to place the matter in a bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud. The Chief Justice gave this direction because the bench of Justice Chandrachud has already heard the matter related to Sitapur.
The bench of Justice Chandrachud heard the hearing at around 2.30 pm. He refused to order interim bail. But directed the UP Police not to take any hasty action at the moment. Zubair has been arrested in cases registered in Sitapur, Lakhimpur and Hathras. It is believed that after today’s order of the Supreme Court, the police will not arrest in the FIRs registered in Muzaffarnagar and Ghaziabad at present.