On Tuesday, the Supreme Court granted bail to Alt News co-founder and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair in all Uttar Pradesh FIRs. “There is no justification for keeping him in continuous custody and subjecting him to endless rounds of custody,” the Supreme Court said. The journalist must be released by 6 p.m. today, ordered SC.
The Apex Court also rejected the Uttar Pradesh Govt’s plea to stop him from tweeting.
“It’s the equivalent of asking a lawyer not to argue… or a person not to speak. Whatever he does, he will face legal consequences, but we can’t tell a journalist not to write,”the Supreme Court stated.
A consolidated investigation is required, said the SC as it clubbed all the FIRs against Zubair and transferred the cases from UP to Delhi.
A special investigation team (SIT) constituted by the UP government is rendered redundant and disbanded, the top court ordered.
Zubair has been ordered to petition the Delhi High Court for the dismissal of the FIRs.
The order transferring FIRs to Delhi will apply to cases in other states as well as any future complaints filed against the journalist.
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