The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday ordered the release on bail of prominent journalist Mohammad Zubair, who was Arrested Last month the police claimed a 2018 “highly provocative” tweet aimed at straining relations between majority Hindus and minority Muslims.
Mohd Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking website everything news And a vocal critic of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was arrested after an anonymous Twitter user filed a complaint over a four-year-old post.
While granting bail to Zubair, the judges observed that “the power of arrest should be exercised with restraint”.
The court also said that the investigation can go on, but there is no justification for keeping Zubair in custody.
Zubair’s lawyer had earlier said that the case was absurd as Muslim Zubair had used satire from a Hindi language film in his 2018 tweet and there was no evidence that he had hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus.
Zubair and his colleagues accused the federal government of using the police to suppress the voices of journalists and other critics.
Earlier this year, Zubair had drawn attention to an inflammatory remark about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on TV by Nupur Sharma, spokesperson of Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Zubair’s lawyer said the government was using the 2018 case to punish him after this year’s tweet went viral.
B J P Suspended Spokesperson and another official expelled for defuse anti-Islam remarks domestic And international diplomatic outcry,
India ranks 150th in the World Press Freedom Index of 180 countries compiled annually by Reporters Without Borders.