Mohammed Zubair
Fact-checker Mohammed Zubair walks out of Tihar Jail after bail
New Delhi/IBNS: Fact-checker Mohammed Zubair, who was granted bail by the Supreme Court after his arrest last month over what was called a "highly provocative tweet", walked out of Delhi's Tihar Jail at 9 pm on Wednesday.
As he got inside a car outside the Tihar Jail, Zubair, surrounded by his legal team, showed a victory sign.
The Supreme Court last week extended the interim bail of the Alt News co-founder till further orders.
The apex court had ordered his release by 6 pm on Wednesday, but he walked out of jail only at 9 pm after paperwork and other formalities were completed. He has been granted bail in all seven cases filed against him.
"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.
Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police on Jun 27. He was, at first, sent to one-day police custody by a duty magistrate on the same day.
He was arrested over a four-year-old tweet, accused of hurting religious sentiments.
Seven more FIRs were filed against him in Uttar Pradesh.
The Supreme Court did not cancel the FIRs but said he was free to approach the Delhi High Court against all the cases, which can be combined into one.
In Mar 2018, Zubair shared a meme that used a screengrab from Hrishikesh Mukherjee's classic 'Kissi Se Na Kehna', showing a hotel signboard that read 'Hanuman Hotel' in Hindi, but paint marks indicated it was earlier named 'Honeymoon Hotel'.
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