Delhi court grants bail to Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in 2018 tweet case

Delhi Court has granted bail to Alt News Co-Founder Mohammed Zubair in the Delhi FIR (2018 Tweet case). Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala granted the relief to Zubair on a bail bond of ₹50,000 and one surety of the like amount, and directed him not to leave the country without its prior permission.A magisterial court had on July 2 dismissed his bail plea and sent him to 14-day judicial custody (JC) in the case, citing the nature and gravity of the offences against the accused and observing that the matter was at an initial stage of investigation.

Mohammed Zubair filed a petition with the Supreme Court on July 14 asking for the quashing of the six FIRs that had been filed against him in various districts of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly hurting religious emotions. He also requested interim bail in each of the cases. The journalist's action came when Zubair was being held in judicial custody for 14 days by a court in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh.Zubair was escorted from Tihar jail with a Delhi Police escort to the Hathras court and then returned after the court hearings. Zubair is currently in judicial custody in Delhi in connection with an alleged inappropriate tweet he allegedly wrote in 2018 against a Hindu god. Since the incident occurred four years ago, according to his attorney Umang Rawat, the journalist's detention was "malafide" and carried out under "political pressure."