The Supreme Court today extended the interim bail to fact-checker Mohammed Zubair in a case registered at Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh, accusing him of hurting religious sentiments.
The relief, however, is restricted to the Sitapur case and the proceedings against the Alt News co-founder in Delhi and UP's Lakhimpur will remain unaffected. This means he will still be in jail.
Mr Zubair's counsel Colin Gonsalves moved the top court after a UP court sent him to judicial custody till July 14.
Appearing before a vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari, Mr Gonsalves had then sought an urgent hearing, following which the court granted Mr Zubair interim bail for five days.
Today, UP Police counsel SV Raju told the Supreme Court bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna that he wants to file a counter to Mr Zubair's petition.
The court then asked UP police to file a response in four weeks and extended the interim bail granted to the fact-checker. The next hearing in the matter is on September 7.
In the Sitapur case, police have accused Mr Zubair of hurting religious sentiments and cited a tweet in May in which he termed as "hatemongers" Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati, Bajrang Muni and Anand Swaroop -- Hindu leaders accused of making provocative speeches.
Mr Zubair had been taken to Sitapur in connection with the case registered there, but was brought back to Delhi's Tihar Jail last night.
The Alt News co-founder was arrested by Delhi Police on June 27 over a four-year-old tweet, days after he flagged a video of now suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma's provocative remarks against Prophet Mohammed.
Delhi Police have charged Mr Zubair with hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity. A Delhi court sent him to judicial custody for 14 days on July 2. The matter will be heard next on Thursday.
The fact-checker has been charged in another case in UP's Lakhimpur. The complaint has been filed by a Sudarshan News employee for a tweet by Mr Zubair last year.
The complainant, Ashish Katiyar, has alleged that Mr Zubair misled people with the tweet on Sudarshan channel's coverage of the Israel-Palestine dispute.
A court in Lakhipur has sent refused to give Mr Zubair's custody to police and sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.
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