Court rejects Zubair's bail plea; sends to 14-day custody

New Delhi: Dismissing the bail plea of Alt News cofounder Mohammed Zubair, a Delhi court sent him to 14-day judicial custody. The court cited the "nature and gravity" of the offence charged against Zubair and said that the matter is at the initial stage of the investigation, PTI reported.

"Since the matter is at the initial stage of investigation and overall facts and circumstances of the case and nature and gravity of the offences alleged against the accused, no ground for grant of bail is made out. Bail application of the accused is accordingly dismissed. Accordingly, accused is remanded to judicial custody for 14 days," the judge said in the order.

The judgement was issued by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria after the open court reconvened late in the evening.

The court had reserved the order earlier in the day after Delhi Police submitted that Zubair needed to be sent to 14-day custody after the five-day remand ended on Saturday.

The co-founder of AltNews, a fact-finding news portal, Zubair was accused of an "objectionable" Twitter post from 2018 against a Hindu god.

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