Ghaziabad FIR : Karnataka High Court Allows Mohammed Zubair To Withdraw Transit Anticipatory Bail Application

Advocate Vrinda Grover appearing for the petitioner informed the court that as per the notice issued by the police under Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), the petitioner appeared before the police on Monday and his statement was recorded. Therefor, it was prayed he may be allowed to withdraw the petition with a liberty to approach the court if there is any threat of arrest in the future.

A single judge bench of Justice Mohammed Nawaz allowed the request and recorded in his order "Counsel Vrinda Grover appearing through Video Conference seeks permission of court to withdraw petition, reserving liberty to the petitioner to approach the court at appropriate time in event there is any threat of arrest to petitioner. The request is granted. Petitioner is disposed off as withdrawn."

At the previous hearing Zubair's lawyers had informed the High Court that after the bail application was filed, the UP Police had served him notice under Section 41A of the CrPC last night, seeking his presence before the investigating officer on June 28 to record his statement in relation to the FIR. The police stated that they were not intending to arrest Zubair, as the offences mentioned in the FIR are punishable with less than 7 years imprisonment.

Noting that there was no apprehension of arrest at this juncture, a single bench of Justice Mohammed Nawaz issued notice on the bail application. 

Zubair's lawyers also informed the bench that a co-accused, journalist Rana Ayyub, was granted 4-weeks transit anticipatory bail by the Bombay High Court. The bench had directed the copy of the order in Ayyub's case and also the Section 41A notice served on Zubair to be produced before it by the next posting date, the same were submitted to the court on Tuesday.

In a related development, the Karnataka High Court has granted interim protection from UP Police coercive action in the same FIR against Twitter India MD.

Background:

The FIR is registered at Loni Border Police Station, Ghaziabad, for offences punishable under Sections 153 (provoking to cause riots), 153A (promoting enmity between religious groups), 295A (insulting religious beliefs), 505 (statements inducing public mischief) & 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. It named Twitter Inc. & Twitter Communications Pvt. Ltd. as it failed to take down the tweets and allegedly allowed the video to go viral.

The FIR was in the backdrop of an elderly Muslim man's claim in a video that his beard was cut off, and he was forced to chant "Vande Mataram" and "Jai Shri Ram". However, later on, the Uttar Pradesh Police ruled out any "communal angle" and said that Sufi Abdul Samad, the elderly man, was attacked by six men, as they were unhappy over the tabeez (amulets) he had sold them.