Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking platform Alt News, walked free from the Tihar Jail.
On Wednesday hours after the Supreme Court granted him bail in all first information reports (FIRs) registered against him across the state for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
The journalist was arrested last month by the Delhi Police over a tweet he had shared in 2018 that had named a Hindu deity. He was granted bail in the case earlier, but remained behind the bars due to the complaints filed against him in UP. At the time, the Delhi court had said “the voice of dissent is necessary for a healthy democracy”.
While ordering Zubair’s immediate release from Tihar Jail in the national capital, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the authorities to combine all cases against him into one. While the top court had ordered his release at 6pm, Zubair walked out of the jail around 8pm after completing all formalities. The information on his released was shared by the Tihar jail.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and AS Bopanna said Zubair will be enlarged on bail in all the FIRs registered in UP after depositing a bail bond of ₹20,000 with the chief metropolitan magistrate at the Patiala House Court in New Delhi.
“In (the) present case (there is) no justification to keep him in continued detention and subject him to an endless round of proceedings in various courts,” the Supreme Court said.
The top court also refused to put a bar on Zubair from tweeting in the future as sought by the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh.
“How can a journalist be restrained from tweeting and writing? If he violates any law by tweeting, then he can be proceeded as per law”, the bench said in a lengthy order passed after more than a two-hour hearing.
As many as seven FIRs had been registered in UP against Zubair – two in Hathras and one each in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, and at Chandauli police station.