NEW DELHI/HATHRAS: Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair on Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking quashing of the six FIRs lodged against him in several districts of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, and also sought interim bail in all the cases.
The move by the journalist came even as a court in Hathras in UP remanded Zubair to 14-day judicial custody.
Zubair, who is in judicial custody in Delhi in a case that is related to an alleged objectionable tweet he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity, was brought to the Hathras court from Tihar jail with a Delhi Police escort and taken back after the court proceedings.
His lawyer Umang Rawat argued that since the matter is four years old the journalist's arrest was "malafide" and made under "political pressure.
" In a related development, Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala reserved the order expected to be delivered on Friday on the bail plea filed by Zubair in the 2018 tweet case lodged by the Delhi police.
The accused has challenged the magisterial court order denying him bail.
Hearing arguments on the bail plea, the judge asked the prosecution if the Delhi police had collected statements of people who felt offended by the alleged objectionable tweet after Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava claimed that Zubair wanted to incite people and create ill will among them.
"How many people felt offended? How many statements you've collected?" the judge asked.
The prosecutor responded to say that it would be done in the due course.
Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the journalist, said Zubair's four-year-old tweet was dug out by one anonymous Twitter user, which was his first tweet since creating his account.
"Someone digs out the four-year-old tweet, and I (Zubair) am being accused of creating unrest in the country," she added.
A magisterial court on July 2 dismissed Zubair's bail plea and sent him to 14-day judicial custody after the end of his five-day custodial interrogation.
The Delhi Police had arrested Zubair on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets.
In the Supreme Court, Zubair's petition also challenged the constitution of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) by the UP government to probe the six cases lodged against him in the state.
The petition contended that all the six FIRs filed in UP that have been transferred to the SIT for investigation are the subject matter of the FIR which is being probed by the Delhi police special cell.
In the alternative prayer, the plea drafted by advocate Vrinda Grover, Soutik Banerjee, Devika Tulsiani, and Mannat Tipnis and filed through advocate Aakarsh Kamra, also sought clubbing of the six FIRs with the FIR lodged in Delhi.
On July 12, the UP Police constituted a SIT for a "transparent" and expeditious probe into cases lodged against Zubair in various districts of the state.
Separate FIRs have been lodged against Zubair in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, and Hathras districts on charges of allegedly hurting religious feelings, making sarcastic remarks on news anchors, disrespecting Hindu gods, and inflammatory posts.
At the Delhi court, the prosecution opposed the bail plea, saying the website of the accused's company says only Indian citizens "should" pay, but they are also receiving money from others.
"Someone is paying and you're accepting it Rs 56 lakh rupees has been received in violation of FCRA," the prosecution claimed.
The prosecutor further alleged that forgery was also committed in the case which is being probed.
This case needs further probe, and if he comes out he may delete information and influence, other persons, not to help in the probe, he added.
"Gumnaam (nameless) will remain Gumnaam if he comes out" We have given notices to banks.
There might be chances that his people might have sent money to his account, to evade liability of Income Tax Act," he said.
Advocate Grover told the court that no foreign contribution was received by Zubair personally or his company Pravda media.
"Our website says we do not receive foreign contributions since we are not registered under FCRA provisions. All this is on my website and in the public domain. My website says only Indian citizens with Indian accounts can contribute. We ask for all information of donor, including PAN number, e-mail i.d.," the counsel said.
She further said the CEO of Razor Pay, through which the company received money, put out a statement after his arrest that Alt News was enabled to receive only domestic payment.
"Therefore, the claim, that Pravda Media received money from certain Muslim countries is unfortunate, and only to sensitise the matter," she contended.
She added that in a democracy, "fake news is not going to help people to make their decision, that's why people with little money also are helping my work."