Zubair denied bail, sent to 14-day judicial custody

A Delhi court on Saturday dismissed Alt News cofounder Mohammed Zubair’s plea for bail and sent him in police custody for 14 more days, Live Law reported.

Zubair was arrested on June 27 and charged with hurting religious sentiments after an anonymous tweeter known as Hanuman Bhakt complained that a satirical post made by the journalist four years ago and referencing a trope from a 1983 film was a “direct insult of Hindus”. He has been in the Delhi police’s custody since. An investigation by the Wire found that Hanuman Bhakt could be connected to Vikas Ahhir, head of the Hindutva groups Hindu Yuva Vahini and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in Gujarat.

Ahead of Saturday’s hearing on his custody as well as bail pleas, the police slapped new charges on Zubair related to criminal conspiracy; destruction of evidence; and violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.

Zubair has helped raise funds for the mostly Muslim families in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi whose homes were bulldozed by police in the wake of communal violence in recent months. At today’s hearing, the police alleged that he got donations from Pakistan and Syria which had to be investigated.

In the afternoon, the Delhi police’s cyber crime head KPS Malhotra told journalists that the court had rejected Zubair’s bail plea and sent him to 14-day police custody. The journalists duly reported the “breaking news” even though the court had not yet made a ruling. Malhotra subsequently told the journalists that he had “misheard” what the investigation officer had told him happened in the court.

“It is extremely scandalous and speaks volumes of the rule of law in this country that even before the judge has sat, the police have leaked to the media,” NDTV quoted Zubair’s lawyer Soutik Banerjee as saying.