Mohammed Zubair Moves Sessions Court Seeking Bail In Delhi FIR, Hearing Tomorrow

Co-Founder of Alt News Mohammed Zubair has moved Sessions Court seeking bail in the Delhi FIR registered against him recently for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity through his tweet made in 2018. 

Zubair was denied bail by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria on July 2.

The matter will be heard tomorrow by Additional Sessions Judge of Patiala House Courts as per the roster.

Zubair was earlier remanded to four days police custody after the CMM observed that he remained "non-cooperative" and recovery of the devices used for posting the tweet was to be made. Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court has issued notice on Zubair's plea challenging his custody. Thereafter, he was sent to 14 days judicial custody.

Zubair has been arrested under Section 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, etc.) and Section 295 (Injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) of the Indian Penal Code.

As per Delhi Police, the case has been registered after a complaint was received from a twitter handle, wherein it was alleged that Zubair had tweeted a "questionable image with a purpose to deliberately insult the god of a particular religion."

According to the FIR, Zubair's tweet from 2018 on the renaming of a 'Honeymoon Hotel' after Hindu god Hanuman is an insult of their religion.

The FIR alleged that the words and the picture used by Zubair against a particular religious community were highly provocative and more than sufficient to incite feeling of hatred amongst people which can be detrimental for maintenance of public tranquillity in the society.