Guwahati: The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday granted Fact-checker Mohammed Zubair bail in all seven cases filed against him.
The apex court has ordered his release from jail by 6 pm today.
The Supreme Court said, “We are of the view that he should be released on interim bail on all FIRs. It’s a set principle of law that the power of arrests must be pursued sparingly. In the present case no justification to keep him in continued detention and subject him to an endless round of proceedings in various courts.”
The SC added, “Having found that he has been subjected to a fairly sustained probe by Delhi Police we see no reason to prevent his liberty further.”
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It may be mentioned that the Uttar Pradesh government had also urged the SC to stop him from tweeting which was rejected.
The court rejected this saying that it was like telling a lawyer to “not argue any further”.
Justice DY Chandrachud said, “How can you tell a journalist he cannot write? If he does something that violates the law, then he is answerable to the law.”
He further said that how can anticipatory actions be taken against a citizen when he is raising his voice?
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“Every citizen is answerable for what he does in public or private. We will not place any such order”, Justice DY Chandrachud added.
It may be mentioned that on June 27, Mohammed Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police over a tweet he post in 2018. Following this, there were seven more FIRs.
While the SC did not cancel the FIRs, Zubar was given the option to approach the Delhi High Court against all the cases which may be combined into one.