The Supreme Court said there is no justification to keep him in continued custody and subject him to endless rounds of custody. The journalist must be released by 6pm today, the SC ordered.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Alt News co-founder and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair in all FIRs lodged against him in Uttar Pradesh. “No justification to keep him in continued custody and subject him to endless rounds of custody,” the top court said. The journalist must be released by 6 pm today, ordered SC.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and AS Bopanna also rejected the UP government’s plea to stop him from tweeting. “It’s like asking a lawyer not to argue… A person not to speak. Whatever he does, he will be responsible in law, but we can’t ask a journalist not to write,” the bench said.
A consolidated investigation is required, said the SC as it clubbed all the FIRs against Zubair and transferred the cases from UP to Delhi. The apex court directed the journalist to be enlarged on bail in all the FIRs after depositing bail bond of ₹20,000 before the CMM at the Patiala House court in Delhi.
