Mohammed Zubair's bail plea rejected by Lakhimpur Kheri Sessions court; hearing on July 20

Jailed Alt News co-founder and fact checker Mohammed Zubair's bail plea was rejected by Mohammadi's sessions court in Lakhimpur Kheri, his advocate Harjit Singh confirmed on July 16. According to the advocate, the date for hearing on Zubair's police custody remand is scheduled for July 20, ANI reported. This comes after he was sent to 14 days of judicial custody by the Mohammadi sessions court on July 11.

Notably, Lakhimpur Kheri is one of the locations where a total of six FIRs have been registered against Zubair for allegedly hurting religious sentiments with his tweets. Before the Mohammadi court's ruling, the Sitapur police were granted his custody for a six-day period from July 8 onwards, however, he was granted bail by a vacation bench of the Supreme Court for five days. 

Zubair jailed for 14 more days

Earlier on July 14, the Alt News co-founder was sent to judicial custody for 14 days by a court in Hathras. The locations where FIRs have been arrested against Zubair include Hathras, (two FIRs) along with Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad and Muzaffarnagar (one in each district). Notably, the UP Police even formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe all the cases registered against him over his tweets. 

On the same day when he was granted 14-day judicial custody, Zubair moved the Supreme Court seeking the quashing of the FIRs and challenged the constitutionality of the UP Police's SIT. He, however, has received bail in one case registered by the Delhi police over a tweet that dates back to 2018. His tweet reportedly included a picture with a caption that read, "Before 2014: Honeymoon Hotel. After 2014: Hanuman Hotel." This post was flagged by a user named Hanuman Bhakt who demanded action against Zubair for his "highly provocative" post and "to incite a feeling of hatred amongst people."

Earlier on Wednesday this week, the bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna extended Zubair's bail in the Sitapur case till September 7 after the UP government sought time to file a reply to his plea seeking the quashing of the FIR. 

Image: Twitter/@Zoo_bear/ANI