Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala granted the relief to Zubair on a bail bond of ₹50,000 and one surety of the like amount, and directed him not to leave the country without its prior permission.
A magisterial court had on July 2 dismissed his bail plea and sent him to 14-day judicial custody (JC) in the case, citing the nature and gravity of the offences against the accused and observing that the matter was at an initial stage of investigation.
Mohammed Zubair filed a petition with the Supreme Court on July 14 asking for the quashing of the six FIRs that had been filed against him in various districts of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly hurting religious emotions. He also requested interim bail in each of the cases. The journalist's action came when Zubair was being held in judicial custody for 14 days by a court in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh.
Zubair was escorted from Tihar jail with a Delhi Police escort to the Hathras court and then returned after the court hearings. Zubair is currently in judicial custody in Delhi in connection with an alleged inappropriate tweet he allegedly wrote in 2018 against a Hindu god. Since the incident occurred four years ago, according to his attorney Umang Rawat, the journalist's detention was "malafide" and carried out under "political pressure."
In a similar event, Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala reserved the decision on Zubair's request for bail in the Delhi police's 2018 tweet case. The decision is anticipated to be made on Friday. The accused is contesting the magistrate court's decision to deny him bail.
After hearing arguments on the bail request, the judge questioned the prosecution regarding claims that Zubair intended to incite people and sow discord among them. Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava claimed that the Delhi police had gathered statements of people who felt offended by the allegedly objectionable tweet.
"How many people felt offended? How many statements you've collected?" the judge asked.
The prosecutor responded to say that it would be done in the due course.
Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the journalist, said Zubair's four-year-old tweet was dug out by one anonymous Twitter user, which was his first tweet since creating his account.
"Someone digs out the four-year-old tweet, and I (Zubair) am being accused of creating unrest in the country," she added.
A magisterial court on July 2 dismissed Zubair's bail plea and sent him to 14-day judicial custody after the end of his five-day custodial interrogation. The Delhi Police had arrested Zubair on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets.
In the Supreme Court, Zubair's petition also challenged the constitution of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) by the UP government to probe the six cases lodged against him in the state.
The plea argued that the FIR being investigated by the Delhi police special cell is the subject of all six FIRs registered in UP that have been forwarded to the SIT for inquiry.
The alternative prayer included a request to combine the six FIRs with the FIR filed in Delhi. This request was made in the plea prepared by attorneys Vrinda Grover, Soutik Banerjee, Devika Tulsiani, and Mannat Tipnis and submitted through attorney Aakarsh Kamra.
On July 12, the UP Police constituted a SIT for a "transparent" and expeditious probe into cases lodged against Zubair in various districts of the state.
Separate FIRs have been lodged against Zubair in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, and Hathras districts on charges of allegedly hurting religious feelings, making sarcastic remarks on news anchors, disrespecting Hindu gods, and inflammatory posts.
At the Delhi court, the prosecution opposed the bail plea, saying the website of the accused's company says only Indian citizens "should" pay, but they are also receiving money from others.
"Someone is paying and you're accepting it… ₹56 lakh rupees has been received in violation of FCRA," the prosecution claimed.
The prosecution also claimed that forgery was done in the case under investigation. This matter requires further investigation, and he said that if he came out, he might remove information and influence other people, not aid in the investigation.
"Gumnaam (nameless) will remain Gumnaam if he comes out… We have given notices to banks. There might be chances that his people might have sent money to his account, to evade liability of Income Tax Act," he said.
Advocate Grover told the court that no foreign contribution was received by Zubair personally or his company Pravda media.
"Our website says we do not receive foreign contributions since we are not registered under FCRA provisions. All this is on my website and in the public domain. My website says only Indian citizens with Indian accounts can contribute. We ask for all information of donor, including PAN number, e-mail i.d.," the counsel said.
She further said the CEO of Razor Pay, through which the company received money, put out a statement after his arrest that Alt News was enabled to receive only domestic payment.
"Therefore, the claim, that Pravda Media received money from certain Muslim countries is unfortunate, and only to sensitise the matter," she contended.
She added that in a democracy, "fake news is not going to help people to make their decision, that's why people with little money also are helping my work."
(With agency inputs)
