A Delhi court on Friday granted bail to Alt News co founder Mohammed Zubair in a case related to hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity for his 2018 tweet, rejecting a contention by the prosecution that he had pointed towards the ruling BJP to show the state of affairs in a prejudicial manner.
"In Indian democracy, the political parties are open to criticism for their policies. The voice of dissent is necessary for healthy democracy. Therefore, merely for the criticism of any political party, it is not justified to invoke Sections 153A and 295A of the IPC," said Additional Sessions judge Devender Kumar Jangala.
The court said that naming an institution with a Hindu God's name was not violative of the provisions invoked by the police since the Hindu religion - one of the oldest in the world - was tolerant and so were its followers. "The Hindu religion is so tolerant that its followers proudly name their institution/organisation/facilities in the name of their Holy God or Goddess," the court observed. "A large number of Hindus proudly name their children in the name of their Holy God and Goddess. Therefore, the naming of an institute, facility or organisation or child in the name of (a) Hindu deity on the face of it is not violative of Section 153A and 295A of (the) IPC unless the same is done with malice/guilty intention."
The court allowed bail to Zubair, arrested on June 27, saying the alleged tweet was of 2018 but till the date of registration of FIR in 2022, no other complaint had been received that the tweet was offensive to the Hindu community or showed disrespect to Lord Hanuman.
The court also noted the applicant has posted image of a scene from the movie Kissi Se Na Kahna released in 1983. "No complaint is stated to have been filed till today that the said scene of the movie has hurt the feelings of a particular community," it said.
Zubair was arrested in the FIR lodged on June 20 when a Twitter user flagged a tweet and tagged the Delhi police complaining that his religious feelings were hurt. The court pointed out till date, the identity of the Twitter user had not been established and the statement of the complainant had yet not been recorded.
The court said that no use would be served in keeping the accused in custody as the police had already interrogated him for five days.
It asked him to furnish a bail bond of Rs 50,000 with one surety to the similar amount. The court also imposed conditions that he would not tamper with the evidence or influence witnesses and would surrender his passport and not leave the country without its permission.
"The applicant/accused should not repeat the offence and shall ensure that his tweet and retweet or any material on social media is not even touching the boundaries of the offence punishable under Sections 153A and 295A of the IPC," it said.
With regard to the Delhi police move to invoke charges of illegal receipt of money from foreign countries, the court said the accused had placed on record the material from its website that clearly mentioned that only Indian citizens with bank accounts could contribute, which prima facie showed the due diligence observed by it.
Zubair would, however, remain in judicial custody after his arrest in a case by the Uttar Pradesh police. He had already filed a writ petition in the top court seeking a direction to quash six FIRs registered against him by the Uttar Pradesh Police over his tweets.