Alt-News co-founder Mohammad Zubair on Wednesday has been granted bail in all six FIRs against him by the Supreme Court. The top court also ordered his immediate release.
The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud said there was absolutely no justification in keeping Zubair in custody when the Delhi Court has granted him bail in a FIR registered by its special cell.
The special cell is currently probing a whole gamut of tweets and funding related to the case.
The court said Zubair will be released on an interim bail by presenting a bail bond of Rs 20,000 before the magistrate court at Patiala house.
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The bench also added that it would be fair that all the FIRs are clubbed together and investigated by one authority. The court further said that overlapping of FIRs, emanating from the tweets, require consolidation of FIRs rather than piecemeal investigation by diverse police authorities.
Zubair had earlier petitioned the court to club the multiple FIRs registered against him with the one filed by the Delhi Police cell.
The court also transferred all FIRs registered against him across the country as well as in Uttar Pradesh to the Delhi police. It also disbanded the Special Investigation Team set up by Uttar Pradesh government to probe the derogatory tweets, Times of India report said.
The top court said the Delhi Police will conduct a comprehensive probe in the matter, adding that Zubair can move Delhi HC for quashing of all or any of the FIRs.
Interestingly, the SC said this relief would be applicable to all FIRs that would be registered in future on the same subject matter in regard to the tweets put out by him. This means, all future FIRs anywhere in the country would be automatically transferred to Delhi Police.
The court in its judgment added that the existence of power of arrest must be distinguished from power of arrest, which should be pursued sparingly.
