Mohammed Zubair Case : Supreme Court Asks Delhi High Court To Consider Plea To Quash Sitapur FIR Uninfluenced By Allahabad HC Order

The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, observed that a petition under Section 482 of the CrPC can be moved by Mohammed Zubair, Co-founder of Alt News before the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of case instituted against him initially at Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh and later transferred to Delhi, as per the directions of the Apex Court.

"…in terms of liberty which was granted in order dated 20.07.2022, petitioner would be able to pursue his rights and remedies...before Delhi High Court."

At the request of Advocate, Ms. Vrinda Grover, appearing on behalf of Zubair, a Bench comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Hima Kohli recorded in the order that the quashing petition as and when filed before the Delhi High Court shall be considered without being influenced by the order of the Allahabad High Court dated 10.06.2022 refusing to quash the concerned FIR.

"In such an event the petition under S. 482 shall be considered on its own merit without the order of Allahabad High Court standing in the way."

Ms. Grover sought the Court's indulgence to ensure that the quashing petition or writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, 1950, that she now seeks to file before the Delhi High Court should not be influenced by the Allahabad High Court order refusing to quash the Sitapur FIR.

At the outset Ms. Grover had apprised the Bench that nothing remains in the matter as the concerned case file has been transferred from Sitapur, UP to Delhi by the order of the Apex Court dated 20.07.2022. She submitted that the office report of the Court indicates the same.

The Bench also verified about the transfer from AAG for the State of UP, Ms. Garima Prasad. It noted that as per a letter placed on record by the State's Advocate-on-Record, on 05.09.2022, the Special Secretary, State of U.P. has intimated that the entire case diary has been transferred to Special Cell, Delhi.

The concerned FIR against Zubair had been lodged by Bhagwan Sharan, the Sitapur district head of the Hindutva organization Rashtriya Hindu Sher Sena, alleging that his religious sentiments had been hurt by Zubair's tweet.

The Apex Court had on July 8, 2022, granted Zubair interim bail in the Sitapur FIR, and on July 13, extended the interim bail in the Sitapur case until further orders. On July 15, the Patiala House Court granted him regular bail in the Delhi Police FIR.

On July 18, the Apex Court had directed the Uttar Pradesh Police to not take any precipitative action against Zubair in connection with the 5 FIRs registered against him in Lakhimpur Kheri, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad and two at Hathras districts over his tweets till July 20.

By order dated July 20, 2022, the Apex Court had transferred all the UP FIRs, including the one registered at Sitapur to Delhi.

[Case Status: Mohammed Zubair v. State of U.P. And Ors. SLP(Crl) No. 6138/2022]