A Delhi court on Friday granted bail to Mohammed Zubair of AltNews in a case related to his 2018 tweet. He’s been in police custody for several days.
Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala of Patiala House Courts had reserved his judgment on Thursday.
The court, according to Livelaw, said, “The voice of dissent is necessary for healthy democracy. Therefore, merely for the criticism of any political parties it is not justified to invoke section 153A and 295A IPC.”
Zubair will, however, continue to remain jail since two more cases have been filed against him in Uttar Pradesh.
Zubair has been directed to not leave the country. He was arrested on 27 June and has been in custody since then.
The Delhi Police had said that his tweet intended to hurt the communal harmony in the country. Taking a still from a 1983 Bollywood film, Zubair had tweeted, “Before 214, Honeymoon Hotel. After 2014, Honuman Hotel.” He had ended his tweet by using the hashtag #Sanskari Hotel.