Court grants bail to AltNews co-founder Mohammad Zubair in case filed by Delhi Police over tweet that ‘hurt religious sentiments’. Political parties are open to criticism, says judge.
New Delhi: The dissemination of information without restraints, the conception of original views and the free exchange of ideas are basic indicators of a free society, a Delhi court said in its order while granting bail to AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair Friday.
Granting him bail on the condition that he would furnish a surety of Rs 50,000 and not leave the country, the Patiala House court also observed that followers of the Hindu religion are “tolerant” and that political parties in India are “open to criticism”.
However, he will continue to be behind bars as he faces multiple FIRs in Uttar Pradesh.
Zubair was arrested in the present case on 27 June after being summoned by the Delhi Police Cyber Cell (IFSO) in connection with a separate case from 2020 in which he had already been granted interim protection from arrest.
The new case concerns a 2018 tweet by the fact-checker that a Twitter user — ‘Hanuman Bhakt’ — reported to the Delhi Police on 19 June, alleging that it had ‘hurt his religious sentiments’.
Showing a still from Kissi Se Na Kehna, a 1983 Hindi movie directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the tweet in question read: “Before 2014: Honeymoon hotel, After 2014: Hanuman Hotel.”
Zubair was initially booked under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The police later added charges of criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence, along with receipt of foreign funding punishable under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
