“Mohammed Zubair Will Be Back Real Soon”: Alt News Co-Founder Pratik Sinha On His Release

Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha took to Twitter to share a photo with his colleague Mohammed Zubair hours after he was released from Delhi’s Tihar Jail on Wednesday, 20 July, saying that the journalist would be “back real soon.”

Sinha added that Zubair wanted to convey his heartfelt gratitude to all those who had supported them in the last few weeks.

“Zubair wants to convey his heartfelt gratitude to everyone who stood by us and supported us in the last few weeks. He’ll be back real soon,” he tweeted.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted Zubair interim bail in all six cases filed against him In Uttar Pradesh.

After being held in custody for 24 days on allegations of hate speech, Zubair was released from Tihar Jail at around 9 pm on Wednesday and he flashed the victory sign while he left in a car.

Delhi Police arrested Zubair arrested on 27 June for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets.

He was held in police and judicial custody after seven FIRs were lodged against him in different districts of UP, including Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad Hathras and the most latest in Chandoli for posting tweets that allegedly hurt religious sentiments. The UP Police had also formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the allegations.

A Supreme Court bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and AS Bopanna ordered the disbanding of the SIT and club all the cases to Delhi.

The bench observed that there was “no reason or justification for the deprivation of his (Zubair’s) liberty to persist any further.”

Further, the Court refused to restrain Zubair from tweeting in the future as sought by the UP government.

“Can a lawyer be restrained from arguing? How can a journalist be restrained from tweeting and writing?” The bench asked, “If he violates any law by tweeting or for that matter any citizen speaking in public or private, then he can be proceeded as per the law,” it noted.