Delhi s Patiala House Court on Friday while granting bail to Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in a case related to an allegedly objectionable tweet, observed that the voice of dissent is necessary for a healthy democracy
New Delhi, July 15 (PTI): A Delhi court on Friday granted bail to Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in a case related to his alleged objectionable tweet in 2018 on a Hindu deity, observing that “the voice of dissent is necessary for a healthy democracy”. Zubair, however, will remain in jail as he has been remanded to judicial custody in some of the FIRs registered against him by the UP Police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. Zubair will be sent to the concerned jail in Uttar Pradesh after his release, according to a Tihar jail official here. The journalist is currently lodged in Tihar jail since July 2. Granting relief to the journalist, Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala said Indian democracy and the political parties are open for their criticism and that merely criticism of any political parties is no ground to invoke section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 295A (outraging religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code(IPC). &