[Mohammed Zubair Bail order] Complainant's identity not established; criticism of political parties not offence: Delhi court

A Delhi court on Friday said the Delhi police "failed to establish the identity" of the Twitter user based on whose complaint the Delhi Police had registered a first information report (FIR) against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair [State v. Mohammed Zubair]..In his order granting bail to Zubair, Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala also prima facie found compliance with the provisions of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) by Zubair as far as monetary contribution to the fact checking website was concerned. Special Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava had accused Zubair of accepting foreign funding from various countries without informing the authorities concerned which was a requisite under FCRA.Zubair's counsel Vrinda Grover had, however, argued that the website specifically mentions that only Indian citizens with Indian bank accounts should contribute."It is stated that the accused has taken all the safeguard to prevent the receipt of any foreign contribution. The material placed on record by the accused prima facie shows due diligence taken by him as per Section 39 of FCRA," the order by the Delhi court underlined..Following are some of the key conclusions arrived at by the Court:.Anonymous ComplainantThe Court said that the case was based on a complaint by a Twitter user but till today, the police has failed to establish the identity of said Twitter user who felt offended by the tweet of the accused.The statement of the aggrieved person/witness under Section 161 (recording of statement before police) of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) has not yet been recorded and the Police has failed to record the statement under 161 CrPC of any other person offended by the tweet of the accused, the Court added..Tweet from 2018, no complaint for 4 yearsThis was one of the main contentions of Zubair which the Court accepted in its order. It noted that the tweet was from 2018 but till the registration of present FIR in 2022, no other complaint was received that the tweet of the accused was offensive to the Hindu community or showed disrespect to Lord Hanuman..On tweet being critical of political partyThe prosecution had pointed out that accused had used the words “Before 2014 and After 2014” in his tweet which was aimed at the ruling political party.The Court, however, made it clear that criticism of political parties cannot be a ground to invoke Sections 153A or 295A of IPC."In Indian democracy, the political parties are open for their criticism. The political parties are not shying away from public to face the criticism of its policies," the Court said.Zubair was initially booked for offences under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between religious groups) and 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).Subsequently, offences under Section 35 of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 and Sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) 201 (destruction of evidence) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC were added..While allowing his release on a bond of ₹50,000 with one surety, the Court directed the fact checker to not leave the country without its permission and surrender his passport with the investigating agency within three days of his release.“Applicant shall not repeat the offence and shall ensure that his tweet or re-tweet or any material on social media is not even touching boundaries of the offences punishable under Section 153A and 295A of IPC,” highlighted the order as one of the conditions for bail..The court also found the present case to be documentary in nature on the basis of the evidence collected so far. "The applicant/accused has already been taken in police custody for five days and now lodged in judicial custody. Therefore, no further interrogation is required. Recovery has already been effected, therefore, no useful purpose is going to be served by keeping the applicant/accused behind bars," it held..Along with Grover, Advocates Soutik Bannerjee, Devika Tulsiani and Mannat Tipnis represented Zubair.Special Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava appeared for State..Despite securing bail, Zubair will remain in jail as he is in judicial custody in other cases against him by the Uttar Pradesh PoliceThe Uttar Pradesh Police has registered six separate FIRs against Zubair. He was booked by Sitapur Police in a case of hurting religious sentiments in which the Supreme Court granted him interim bail on July 8. He was remanded to 14-day judicial custody in another FIR registered in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri district.The Uttar Pradesh government had also formed a Special Investigation Team to investigate the six cases.Zubair meanwhile has approached the Supreme Court seeking to quash the six FIRs..[Read Order]