New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on Friday Mohammed Zubair's bail plea on charges of outraging religious feelings registered against him in Uttar Pradesh.
A vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari said on Thursday the matter be listed on Friday subject to clearance from the Chief Justice of India.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for The Alt News co-founder said his anticipatory bail was rejected by the Allahabad High Court and subsequently he was arrested.
His lawyer, Colin Gonsalves, argued for urgent listing: "There are death threats against him... People have said that they will kill him. We are worried about his safety." Asking the court to hear the plea at 2pm today, he said, "Please see the urgency." Justice Indira Banerjee ordered that the matter be listed tomorrow "subject to clearance by the Chief Justice of India".
An FIR was lodged against Zubair in Uttar Pradesh under IPC section 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) and section 67 of the IT Act here on a complaint by Hindu Sher Sena Sitapur district president Bhagwan Sharan on June 1.
Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets, made four years ago. The tweet had contained a reproduction of an older movie scene.
The Delhi Police has invoked new provisions -- sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 35 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act -- against Zubair.
Source: PIT with edits