Zubair gets bail, court says ‘voice of dissent is necessary’
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Friday granted bail to Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in a case related to his alleged objectionable tweet in 2018 on a Hindu deity, observing that “the voice of dissent is necessary for a healthy democracy”.
Zubair, however, will remain in jail as he has been remanded to judicial custody in some of the FIRs registered against him by the UP Police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
Zubair will be sent to the concerned jail in Uttar Pradesh after his release, according to a Tihar jail official here. The journalist is currently lodged in Tihar jail since July 2.
Granting relief to the journalist, Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala said Indian democracy and the political parties are open for their criticism and that merely criticism of any political parties is no ground to invoke section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 295A (outraging religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code(IPC).
“Undoubtedly free speech is the proper foundation of a democratic society.”
The court further said the Hindu religion is one of the oldest religions and most tolerant and that followers of the Hindu religion are also tolerant. Six separate FIRs have been lodged against Zubair in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar and Hathras districts in UP.
The court directed Zubair to furnish a bail bond of Rs
50,000 and one surety of like amount, and directed him not to leave the country without its prior permission and not to repeat the offence. The journalist was also ordered to ensure that his tweet or retweet, or any material on social media content is not even touching boundaries of the offence punishable under Section 153A and 295A of IPC. It said the accused is not required for any custodial interrogation and the alleged act would come into the category of offence only when it is done with a guilty intention.