Fact-Checker Mohammed Zubair Leaves Jail As Court Ends "Vicious Cycle"
NDTV
Mohammed Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through his tweets.
Fact-checker Mohammed Zubair, arrested last month over what the police said was a "highly provocative tweet", has been released on bail in all seven cases filed against him. Mohammed Zubair walked out of Delhi's Tihar Jail after 9 pm on Wednesday.
"It's a set principle of law that power of arrests must be pursued sparingly. In present case no justification to keep him in continued detention and subject him to an endless round of proceedings in various courts," the Supreme Court had said earlier in the day.
The court disbanded a special probe in UP against Mohammed Zubair and transferred all UP cases to Delhi. The judges also rejected the Uttar Pradesh government's request that Mohammed Zubair be "stopped from putting out tweets".
"It's like telling a lawyer to not argue any further. How can you tell a journalist he cannot write? If he does something that violates the law, then he is answerable to law. But how can we take anticipatory action against a citizen when he is raising his voice? Every citizen is answerable for what he does in public or private. We will not place any such order," said Justice DY Chandrachud.
