The Supreme Court recently comprising of a bench of Justice Chandrachud and Justices Surya Kant & AS Bopann, while granting interim bail to Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, declined to impose harsh bail conditions, which included that he should not tweet. (MOHAMMED ZUBAIR v. STATE OF NCT OF DELHI & ORS)
The bench remarked, ““We cannot stop him from tweeting. We cannot anticipatorily interdict him from exercising his right of free speech. He will be answerable as per the law. "It is like telling a lawyer that you should not argue. How can we tell a journalist that he will not write or utter a word?”
The Supreme Court has transferred all the FIRs against Zubair to the Delhi Police. At the same time, the SIT of UP constituted against Zubair has also been dissolved. According to the order of the court, Zubair will be protected even if a new FIR is registered in the same case.
Facts of the case
Zubair was first arrested by the Delhi police on June 27 over a tweet posted by him in 2018 and was later remanded in the other FIRs registered by the UP Police. Zubair was charged under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity), 295A (acts to outrage religious feelings), and 298 (uttering words to wound religious feelings), along with section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material) of the Information Technology Act.
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.
On July 8, Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari granted him interim bail in the Sitapur case under the condition that he will not will not post any further tweets. They made it clear that the court had not stayed the investigation in the FIR and that interim relief does not apply to any other pending case.
Contention of the Parties
The Uttar Pradesh’s Additional Advocate General Garima Prasad submitted that Zubair should not tweet after the court granted him interim bail.
Prasad said Zubair was not a journalist and cited the order passed by a vacation bench of the Supreme Court, granting interim bail to Zubair in the Sitapur FIR, and a condition was imposed that he will not post tweets.
Advocate Vrinda Grover appearing for Zubair submittedthat none of the tweets remotely used language which is improper of which amount to criminal offence and therefore, it was a clear case of silencing the fact checker invoking criminal offence with multiple FIRs. She further submitted, “In this age of digital age, the job of someone who is debunking false information may draw the ire of others. But the law cannot be weaponised against him…The dormant FIRs are activated the moment I secure bail in any case. Dormant FIR gets suddenly activated. That is why I say there is more than meets the eye. There is a scenario of encircling me.”
Courts observation & Judgment
The bench at the very outset remarked, “If there are any tweets against law, he will be answerable. How can we pass any anticipatory order that someone will not speak? We can’t say that he won’t tweet again.”
The bench further observed, “As regards Crime No 199 of 2021 dated 24 July 2021 registered at PS Charthawal, Muzaffarnagar, the charge-sheet under Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 has been filed. The proceedings in respect of the said Case Crime shall stand transferred to the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Patiala House Courts and shall be taken up from the stage that has reached before the earlier Court. The petitioner has been enlarged on bail. The order enlarging the petitioner on bail shall continue to remain in force. The investigation into the FIRs set out in para 1 above shall stand transferred from the Uttar Pradesh Police to the Special Cell of the Delhi Police. As a consequence, the SIT which was constituted by the Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh on 10 July 2022, shall stand disbanded.”
The bench taking note of the above passed the following directions, “The directions contained in 1 and 3 above shall stand extended to any other FIR which may be registered against the petitioner hereafter in respect of the same subject matter as the above FIRs in which event (a) the investigation of the FIR shall stand transferred to the Special Cell of the Delhi Police; (b) the petitioner shall be entitled to the order of interim bail, as set out above.
The petitioner would be at liberty to pursue his rights and remedies in proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution/ Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 in respect of the FIRs which have been or which may be registered against him before the High Court of Delhi and in that event nothing contained in this judgment shall amount to an expression of opinion on the merits of such proceedings.
The bail bonds in compliance with the above direction shall be presented before the Chief Judicial Magistrate at the Patiala House Courts, Delhi. Immediately upon the presentation of the bail bonds, the Superintendent at the Tihar Jail shall take necessary steps to ensure that the petitioner is released from judicial custody no later than by 6 pm today.”
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