New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday restrained Uttar Pradesh Police from taking any precipitative steps against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair without its permission in FIRs registered against him in the state till July 20.
A Bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud said it would consider his bail plea on July 20 in all the cases registered against him in UP after his counsel Vrinda Grover mentioned his petition for urgent hearing.
Noting that the contents of all six FIRs appeared to be similar, the Bench said, “The moment he gets a bail in one FIR, there seems to be another one. This vicious cycle must end.”
The Bench noted that he was granted bail by a Delhi court last week and a five-day interim by a Vacation Bench of the top court on July 8 in connection with a case registered in Sitapur.
Earlier, a Bench led by CJI NV Ramana in the morning refused urgent listing of Zubair’s plea seeking clubbing of all six FIRs lodged against him in Uttar Pradesh and asked his counsel to approach Justice Chandrachud’s Bench which was already seized of the Sitapur case.
Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta said a local court in Hathras was scheduled to consider an application seeking his remand on Monday. “This court may not pass an order preventing another court from passing an order,” Mehta submitted. Zubair had on Thursday moved the top court seeking quashing of all six FIRs registered against him in Uttar Pradesh.
Alternatively, he demanded clubbing of six FIRs registered in UP at Hathras, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, Lakhimpur Kheri and Sitapur with that in Delhi where he was first arrested.
Zubair – who sought interim bail in all six FIRs — has also challenged the validity of SIT formed by UP government to probe the cases against him.
The top court on July 12 had adjourned the hearing on his plea seeking quashing of an FIR registered against him at Sitapur to September 7 to enable Uttar Pradesh Police to file a detailed response to his petition.
Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through his tweets. He has also been accused of violating FCRA provisions and destruction of evidence.