Alt News co-founder and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair, against whom six FIRs have been filed by the Uttar Pradesh police, moved the Supreme Court of India on Thursday seeking to cancel all the FIRS.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed by the UP police to probe multiple cases against him. The SIT has been asked to conduct a speedy probe and submit a charge sheet.
Zubair has also asked the Supreme Court to call off the SIT team.
Delhi court to pronounce order tomorrow
In another case, the Delhi Patiala House court reserved the order on the bail plea filed by Zubair for Friday.
On July 27, Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police in a case related to an objectionable tweet he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity.
Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala reserved the order after hearing arguments from the counsel appearing for the accused as well as the prosecution.
A magisterial court had on July 2 dismissed his bail plea and sent him to 14-day judicial custody (JC) in the case, citing the nature and gravity of the offenses against the accused and observing that the matter was at the initial stage of the investigation.
Earlier in the day, Hathras court sent Zubair to 14-days of judicial custody. In this case, Zubair was booked for calling three Hindu seers — Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati, Bajrang Muni, and Anand Swaroop – “hate-mongers”.
Background of Zubair’s arrest
Mohammed Zubair was arrested on the night of June 27 by the Delhi police. According to the police, Zubair had posted a clip that is “objectionable and hurts religious sentiments of the Hindus.”
The post in question is a clip from a 1983 Hindi movie – Kissi Se Na Kehna – a romantic comedy directed by the legendary Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The post is an old post dated March 24, 2018.
The complaint was raised by a Twitter handle @balajikijaiin who goes by the name Hanuman Bhakt. The handle, which had just one post, now stands deleted.
A senior police officer said the tweet purportedly showed a hotel’s picture, with its board reading ‘Honeymoon hotel’ repainted to ‘Hanuman hotel’. The complainant posted a screenshot, tagged Delhi Police, and wrote: “Linking our God Hanuman ji with honeymoon is a direct insult of Hindus because he is brahmachari. Kindly take action against this guy @delhipolice.”
Zubair was taken into one-day police custody after which he was produced before the Delhi Patiala House Court.
On seeking bail, the court rejected his plea, and Zubair was sent to a 14-day Delhi police custody.
There was drama in the court when the verdict was announced before the judge had passed the order, The Delhi police admitted to misinforming the media regarding the bail plea.
Zubair then approached the Supreme Court challenging the court’s refusal to quash an FIR registered against him.
The journalist has been booked under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) and section 35 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.
On July 8, the Supreme Court granted bail for five days provided he stays within the jurisdiction of the court and does not tweet in the near future.
However, soon after Zubair was booked for another tweet that he posted last year by the Lakhimpur Kheri police.
(With inputs from PTI)
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Veena Nair | 
