A court in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri on Saturday rejected the bail petition of Alt News Co-founder Mohammad Zubair in a case for allegedly promoting enmity.
The bail application was moved before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Mohamaddi on July 11 after the court sent Zubair to a 14-day judicial custody in the case.
"After hearing the arguments by the prosecution and the defense counsel, ACJM Ruchi Srivastava rejected Mohd. Zubair's bail plea," Senior Prosecuting Officer (SPO) SP Yadav told PTI.
Yadav said a hearing on Zubair's police remand is scheduled to be held on July 20.
The Lakhimpur Kheri Police had served a warrant on Zubair to appear in court in connection with the FIR registered against Zubair on November 25 last year by Ashish Katiyar, a reporter for a private news channel.
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"In his complaint, Katiyar had accused Zubair of misleading people through his tweet about his channel," said a district police officer.
On Friday, a Delhi court granted bail to Zubair in a case related to an "objectionable" tweet he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity. The case was filed last month and he was arrested on June 27.
Besides Delhi and Lakhimpur Kheri, cases are also filed against Zubair in UP's Sitapur, Hathras, Ghaziabad, and Muzaffarnagar.
In the Sitapur case, the Supreme Court on Tuesday extended Zubair's interim bail till further orders. However, the bail would have no bearing on other casess. The court further clarified that it was not staying the investigation.
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In the Hathras case, a court on Thursday remanded Zubair to 14 day judicial custody in a case of hurting religious sentiments. He was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate Shivkumari under heavy security in connection with a case filed at the Sadar Kotwali police station on June 14.
The UP government on Tuesday constituted a special investigation team (SIT) for a "transparent" probe into cases lodged against Zubair in various districts. The SIT, headed by Inspector General (Prisons) Preetinder Singh, has been asked to conduct an investigation "expeditiously" and submit a charge sheet in court.
(With PTI inputs)
