Alt-news co-founder Mohammed Zubair after being produced at the Patiala House in Delhi on July 2. (Express File Photo by Prem Nath Pandey)A Delhi court on Tuesday deferred the bail plea of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair to July 14 in a case related to a 2018 tweet which allegedly hurt religious sentiments.
Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava informed the Patiala House Court that another hearing is pending in the Supreme Court in a different matter related to the case against Zubair filed by UP police in Sitapur for hurting religious sentiments through a tweet, in which he called some Hindu seers “hatemongers”.
Srivastava sought time till Thursday, following which the hearing was adjourned till July 24, news agency PTI reported.
Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for Zubair, told Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangal presiding over the case, “Yesterday (July 11), the Supreme Court passed an order that bail must be the rule. These orders have to be enforced by the law of the land.”
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Grover was referring to a judgment passed by an SC bench of Justices S K Kaul and M M Sundresh, which underlined that bail is the rule and jail an exception.
On July 3, a Delhi court had sent Zubair to 14-day judicial custody in the Delhi Police case. In the Sitapur case, the Supreme Court granted the journalist five days’ interim bail in connection on July 8, with the condition that the “petitioner shall not post any tweets and shall not tamper with any evidence, electronic or otherwise in Bengaluru or anywhere else”.
— with inputs from PTI
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