New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended till further orders the interim bail of Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair, accused in connection with an FIR lodged in Sitapur of hurting religious sentiments. Additional Solicitor General S.V., appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government. Raju, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice A. s. Bopanna that they want to file an affidavit against the petition filed by Mohammad Zubair for quashing the FIR lodged in Sitapur. Thereafter, the bench listed journalist Zubair’s petition for a final hearing on September 7 and asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file its reply within four weeks.
A vacation bench of the apex court had on July 8 granted interim bail to Zubair for five days in the case. The court has ordered the continuation of the bail of Mohammad Zubair till the reply is filed by the UP government. At the same time, the Zubair side has been given two weeks to respond to the reply of the UP government. According to the order, the interim bail of Mohammad Zubair will continue till September 7. According to media reports, the Uttar Pradesh government has told the Supreme Court that it wants to file an affidavit against the petition filed by Mohammad Zubair to quash the FIR lodged in Sitapur.
On July 2, the magisterial court rejected Zubair’s bail application and sent him to 14-day judicial custody. The magisterial court had cited the nature and gravity of the allegations against Zubair and said that the case was at an early stage of investigation. The court sent Zubair to judicial custody after five days of custodial interrogation.
