Fact-checker Mohammed Zubair, who was granted bail last week in all cases filed against him, was trapped in a “vicious cycle of the criminal process” with the criminal justice system “relentlessly employed against him”, the Supreme Court has observed. 

In its detailed judgment that was released on Monday, the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna said: “Arrest is not meant to be and must not be used as a punitive tool because it results in one of the gravest possible consequences eminating from criminal law: the loss of personal liberty. Individuals must not be punished solely on the basis of allegations, and without a fair trial.”

“When the power to arrest is exercised without application of mind and without due regard to the law, it amounts to an abuse of power,” the Bench added in one of its several sharp remarks as it reiterated the guidelines for arrest laid down in the 2014 case of Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar.   

The court said the Section 41 of the CrPC and safeguards in criminal law exist in recognition of the reality that any criminal proceeding “almost inevitably involves the might of the state, with unlimited resources at its disposal, against a lone individual”.

Zubair, held in custody for 24 days on allegations of hate speech, walked free on July 20, hours after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail, saying the “exercise of the power of arrest must be pursued sparingly”. The court had then released only the operative part of the order. 

It had said that it would take some time to transcribe the detailed judgment and directed that Zubair will be released on interim bail in all the FIRs lodged in UP after depositing a bail bond of Rs 20,000 with Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Patiala House Court.

A bench of justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and AS Bopanna ordered disbanding of the SIT and transfer of all the cases to Delhi, saying there was “no reason or justification for the deprivation of his (Zubair’s) liberty to persist any further.” The SC bench also refused to restrain Zubair from tweeting in the future as sought by the UP government.

Zubair was held in police and judicial custody following half dozen FIRs lodged against him in different parts of Uttar Pradesh for posting tweets that allegedly hurt religious sentiments. The UP state police had also set up a Special Investigation Team to probe the allegations.

Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets. Multiple FIRs were lodged against him in UP — two in Hathras and one each in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, and at Chandauli police station — for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.