Zubair was presented before the court via video conferencing from Sitapur jail and sections 153B, 505(1) (B) and 505(2) were added to the FIR against him 
Zubair was presented before the court via video conferencing from Sitapur jail and sections 153B, 505(1) (B) and 505(2) were added to the FIR against him 
Co-founder of the online fact-checking portal Alt News, Mohammed Zubair, on Monday was sent to 14-day judicial custody by a Lakhimpur court in a case registered against him in September last year. The development comes a day after a fresh warrant was issued against Zubair in Lakhimpur Kheri’s Mohammadi.
This case was registered after a complaint was filed by a Sudarshan News employee for a fact-check tweet. Zubair was presented before the court via video conferencing from Sitapur jail and sections 153B, 505(1) (B) and 505(2) were added to the FIR against him, news agency ANI reported.
Lakhimpur court’s order comes days after the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Mohammed Zubair in a case registered against him in Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh.
Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari granted Zubair an interim bail of five days on the condition that he will neither tweet about the case nor will he leave the jurisdiction of Sitapur Magistrate’s court. The top court added that it has not impeded the investigation or stayed it in any manner.
The top court also issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh police on Zubair’s plea challenging the Allahabad High Court order against him. Allahabad HC issued an order refusing to quash the FIR against the fact checker for a tweet where he allegedly called Hindu seers as ‘hate mongers.’
In this case, Zubair was charged under section 295A for deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings and section 1553A for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds on religion, race, place of birth, language, etc.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who appeared for Zubair, informed the two-judge bench that the Sitapur police is seeking Zubair’s police custody and they are challenging Allahabad HC’s order.
Gonslaves said, “A person who made hate speech has been granted bail but secular tweeter who exposed the venomous language has been jailed.” During the course of this hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the UP Police, said, “Such conduct of suppression of facts should not be encouraged. He is seeking bail from the Supreme Court without telling this court that his bail was rejected yesterday by the Sitapur court.”
(With agency inputs)
Also read: SC grants interim bail to Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair in Sitapur case
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