Alt News co-founder Zubair seeks urgent hearing of plea, SC says it willl be listed

Mohammed Zubair in his plea sought the quashing of six First Information Reports registered against him in Uttar Pradesh for insulting religious feelings on Twitter.

Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Monday informed the lawyers of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair that his plea seeking to quash six First Information Reports (FIRs) registered against him in Uttar Pradesh for insulting religious feelings on Twitter will be listed before a Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud.

In an oral mentioning before the CJI, advocate Vrinda Grover, for Mr. Zubair, said "he is a fact-checker. A slew of FIRs have been filed against him [Mr. Zubair] as soon as he gets bail in one case".

Ms. Grover urged the CJI to post the case for hearing at the earliest.

"I will list it before the same Bench, you go and mention this there," Chief Justice Ramana addressed Ms. Grover.

The Bench led by Justice Chandrachud is already hearing a petition filed by Mr. Zubair to quash a case registered at Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh. This Bench, on July 12, had extended the interim bail earlier granted in this case by a Vacation Bench. The interim bail in the Sitapur case would be operative till further orders. The Justice Chandrachud Bench had fixed the next hearing on September 7, granting Uttar Pradesh ample time to file its counter-affidavit in the Sitapur case.

But Mr. Zubair's latest petition pointed out that other than Sitapur, other FIRs had also been registered variously at Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, Lakhimpur and Hathras in Uttar Pradesh.

The fact-checker has also challenged the formation of a Special Investigation Team by the Uttar Pradesh Police to investigate the cases.