SC orders ‘no precipitative action’ against Mohd Zubair in 6 FIRs registered in UP

The Supreme Court, on Monday, directed the Uttar Pradesh Police to not take any precipitative action against Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair until it hears Zubair’s plea on July 20. Zubair, in his plea, has sought to quash six FIRs lodged against him in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad and Hathras districts over his tweets, according to the news agency ANI.

The bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna issued notice on the writ petition filed by Zubair seeking to quash the FIRs registered against him and listed the matter day after tomorrow. The petition was taken up by the bench after an urgent mention was made by Advocate Vrinda Grover. The petition was otherwise not listed today.

“Since the petition is not on board today, we direct the Registry to list the matter on July 20. In the meantime, we direct that no precipitative action whatsoever be taken against the petitioner in 5 FIRs without the leave of the Court,” the bench said.

Justice Chandrachud said, “Contents of all FIRs seem to be similar. What seems to be happening is, as he gets bail in one case, he is remanded in another. This vicious cycle is continuing”.

Earlier, the court had granted Zubair interim bail in the Sitapur FIR and the Patiala House Court had granted him regular bail in the Delhi Police FIR on July 15.

Advocate Grover mentioned the petition before Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana and said that Zubair has been taken to Hathras court for remand. The CJI told Grover to mention the matter before Justice Chandrachud.

“Let hands of Hathras court be stayed. There’s a complete abuse of proceedings. There is a threat to his life. Let him be brought back to the Tihar Jail,” stated Grover while mentioning the matter before Justice Chandrachud. The bench accepted his request and agreed to hear the matter post lunch.

FIRs have been lodged against Zubair in districts like Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, and Hathras over the charges of allegedly hurting religious feelings, making sarcastic remarks on news anchors, disrespecting Hindu gods, and inflammatory posts.

Zubair’s fresh plea challenged the constitution of the UP government’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the six FIR cases. Their plea said that all the six FIRs filed in UP, which have been transferred to the SIT for investigation, is the subject matter of the FIR that is being probed by the Delhi Police special cell.

(With input from agencies)