'Power Of Arrest Must Be Used Sparingly; No Justification To Keep Him In Continued Custody' : SC In Mohammed Zubair Case [Full Courtroom Exchange]

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of fact-checker Mohmmed Zubair on interim bail in all the FIRs registered by the UP Police over his tweets.The Court observed that "there is no justification to keep him in continued custody any further and subject him to diverse proceedings when the gravamen of allegations arises from the tweets which form part of investigation by Delhi Police". Accordingly, the Court transferred all UP cases to Delhi and clubbed the FIRs with the Delhi Police FIR (in which he has been granted regular bail).A bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and AS Bopanna also observed in the order that the power of arrest must be exercised sparingly.Here is the full court room exchange from the hearing :Advocate Vrinda Grover, for Zubair: "There are 3 FIRs based on the same tweet. The tweets are the subject matter of all the FIRs, that is not disputed. All FIRs except one are under section 153A, 298, 295A, 505 IPC and 67 IT Act, barring the Hathras one which is of 10th June in which I am not named in the FIR at all.Today, there is against me one FIR in Delhi, in which I have been granted regular bail by the court of the additional sessions Judge, Patiala house on 15th of July. That is based on a tweet. The tweet is dated 24 March 2018. During the course of investigation, section 35 of the FCRA, section 67 of the IT act and 201 IPC etc have been added. The scope of the investigation is expanded. There was a five day remand that I have suffered in that. A search and seizure was allowed. I was taken to my residence in Bangalore, a laptop was seized from my residence in Bangalore. Even though they say that the tweet is from an android phone, and I have documentary evidence of the phone being stolen, there was a search and seizure conducted and my laptop was seized. I have already challenged the legality of that, that is before the Delhi High Court. I have challenged the principle of the remand, the consequences I have already suffered. Thereafter a status report is filed-See how the scope of the investigation has been enlarged in the FIR in which I was first arrested where a remand was given- 'For the purpose of recovery of the laptop and mobile phone used in committing this crime and for the purpose of interrogation of the accused to find out other tweets/posts and a larger conspiracy, if any, Mohammed Zubair was arrested in this case on 27 June 2022. He disclosed he is the co-founder of alt news and in order to gain popularity, he posted such content'. All of this, we have denied"Ms. Grover: "They say it was disclosed that he had made seven other tweets of religious nature. In one of those cases, your lordships have been pleased to grant me interim bail in July. Let me pass to your lordships the tweets in question, it will help me make my case. One tweet is against one Bajrang Munni. That FIR was in Sitapur. The second is the subject matter also of FIR of 237 of 2022 at PS Kotwali Hathras. This is an FIR lodged on fourth of July after I have already been arrested in Delhi and sent to police custody on second of July. I have been put in judicial custody in Hathras and an application for remand to police custody for 14 days is pending and is to be heard tomorrow in Hathras. All of them are open ended FIRs"Justice Chandrachud: "He was arrested in Delhi, he got bail. Sitapur FIR, bail was granted by our court. The Hathras FIR, he is in judicial custody and the police custody remand application will be heard tomorrow?"Ms. Grover: "Yes. Also, my police remand application in connection with the case at PS Mohammadi Lakhimpur Kheri is to be heard today. In addition to this, there are 3 FIRs at Chandauli, Muzaffarnagar...In the tweet (which is the subject of the Lakhimpur Kheri case), there is no incitement whatsoever. He has put up a graphic that is posted by Sudarshan TV. I point out as a fact checker that this graphic is showing a mosque which does not exist over there, this is another mosque. And what is the language I use? There is no absolutely not even a hint of incitement to arouse any inflammatory passions. I say channel so and so has used a picture of Medina mosque superimposed with a picture from Gaza bombings. Is this trying to incite violence? And I tag the Noida police, UP police and DGP UP to take action! Please see who is actually inciting. Please see the graphic posted by Sudershan news channel. Please see what is written. As a fact checker, I have placed on record that this is the actual image of the Gaza bombing. I have also placed the image of the mosque. On this basis, an FIR is lodged against me. This is about silencing! Under 154 (Cr. P. C.), the police is asked to lodge an FIR when they get any information of the commission of a cognisable offence. Prima facie, there is no offence that is made out! At all the three police stations, all the FIRs have been lodged by District correspondents of this particular news channel against me. PS Chandauli FIR, I...

'Power Of Arrest Must Be Used Sparingly; No Justification To Keep Him In Continued Custody' : SC In Mohammed Zubair Case [Full Courtroom Exchange]

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