The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted Alt News cofounder Mohammed Zubair permission to approach the Delhi High Court to quash an FIR lodged against him in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur.
This is after the Allahabad High Court had rejected Zubair’s plea in June to quash the FIR.
Zubair was arrested on June 27 and charged with hurting religious sentiments based on a satirical post he had made four years ago. Following his arrest, he was slapped with six cases in Uttar Pradesh, including one in Sitapur. After he spent 23 days in jail, the Supreme Court granted him bail in all the cases in July. The apex court had also directed that all the cases against him be clubbed and transferred to Delhi.
The Sitapur case pertains to an FIR filed after Zubair called Yati Narasinghanand, Mahant Bajrang Muni and Anand Swaroop “hatemongers” in a Twitter post. The three are among 10 people booked in connection with hate speeches that took place at a Dharam Sansad held in Haridwar in December last year.
After the Allahabad High Court refused to quash the FIR, Zubair approached the Supreme Court, where the matter was heard today by a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli.
The bench said that the Uttar Pradesh police had been told about the transfer of cases to Delhi, and that Zubair was at liberty to pursue his rights with respect to the case before the Delhi High Court.
The bench also said the plea must be entertained on its own merits without being influenced by the Allahabad High Court order.
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