SC extends Zubair's interim bail in UP case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended till further orders the interim bail of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in a case lodged against him in the Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly outraging religious sentiments.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna was told by Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, that it wants to file a counter affidavit to Zubair's plea seeking quashing of the FIR lodged in the case.

Raju said that since Zubair has already been granted bail in the matter, there should not be any objection from his side to grant time to file the affidavit.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for Zubair, said he has already been granted interim bail till Tuesday by the vacation bench of this court and they would also like to file their reply to the counter affidavit to be filed by the state government.

The bench then asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file its response in four weeks and listed the plea for a final hearing on September 7.

It said that rejoinder, if any needs to be filed by Zubair's side, then it should be filed in two weeks thereafter.

The relief granted by the top court for Zubair will not have any effect as he is in judicial custody as per the order of a Delhi court in another case.

Also on Tuesday, the Delhi court posted for July 14 hearing on a bail plea filed by Zubair in a case related to an "objectionable tweet" he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity.

Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets.

The Delhi Police has invoked new provisions — sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 35 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act — against Zubair.