The Supreme Court is likely to hear tomorrow fact-checker Mohammed Zubair's plea seeking bail and quashing of a case registered against him in Sitapur on allegations of hurting religious sentiments.
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".
Mr Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking outlet Alt News, is in Delhi's Tihar Jail as he was first arrested by the Delhi Police on June 27 over a four-year-old tweet. He was later taken to Sitapur in UP where another FIR is registered against him as he called some Hindu right-wing leaders "hatemongers".
His lawyer told the Supreme Court that the Allahabad High Court had refused to quash the (Sitapur) FIR against him.
