Supreme Court to hear Alt News' Mohammed Zubair’s bail plea on Friday

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear on Friday the bail plea of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in connection with a case registered against him in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly outraging religious feelings. The court responded to Zubair's plea for an urgent hearing citing 'death threats' that he has been receiving.

The listing, however, awaits the Chief Justice of India's approval on Friday.

Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, who is representing Zubair,told the vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari, which heard the plea on Thursday, that there is a threat to his life as people out there are threatening him, while urging the court to list the matter urgently.

The counsel said the Allahabad High Court had denied anticipatory bail to Zubair saying it was premature and he was arrested 2-3 days later.

On July 2, a Delhi court had denied him bail and had sent him to 14-days judicial custody.

An FIR was lodged against Zubair in Uttar Pradesh under IPC section 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) and section 67 of the IT Act on a complaint by Hindu Sher Sena Sitapur district president Bhagwan Sharan on June 1.

Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through a tweet he had posted in 2018. The arrest was made following a complaint raised by a Twitter user—Hanuman Bhakt who said that a tweet posted by Zubair in 2018 of a movie poster that was released in 1983 had hurt religious sentiments of the followers of a Hindu deity.

The Delhi Police has has since then invoked new provisions—sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 35 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act—against Zubair.

With PTI inputs.