NEW DELHI: Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court Wednesday in six cases filed against him across Uttar Pradesh for alleged hate speech.
In its order, the Supreme Court said that there was no justification in keeping Zubair in continued custody. “We direct Zubair be released on bail on each of the FIRs in UP. Existence of powers of arrest must be distinguished from the excercise of powers of arrest which must be used sparingly,” it said.
In its judgment, a bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and AS Bopanna said “There is no justification to keep the petitioner in continued detention especially since the gravamen of allegations in UP FIRs is similar to that in Delhi police FIR,”
The Supreme Court also transferred the investigation in six FIRs in Uttar Pradesh to the Special Cell of the Delhi Police as all the cases pertain to the same “offensive” tweets.
Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police last month over a complaint filed by a social media user over his old tweets.