The Supreme Court has done full justice to Nupur Sharma and Mohammad Zubair. It has quashed dozens of police complaints (FIRs) against both of them and said that all the cases against them should be conducted in the same city. If the cases against them continue in many cities, then many problems can arise. Firstly, many decisions can be conflicting. The second problem is that in how many cities will the accused person visit the courts? The third problem is his own safety.
By the way, Zubair is not getting the same threats on his controversial tweet as Nupur Sharma is getting. Those who have even the slightest understanding of the law know that both Zubair and Nupur are going to be declared innocent by the court. Nupur has not been arrested yet but Zubair has been kept in jail for weeks. He did not even get bail. The Supreme Court released him immediately and it has also strongly criticized the UP government and the police.
The judges of the Supreme Court have said that how can anyone become a hindrance in the freedom of expression of any journalist? If Zubair tweeted dialogues from a film in 2018, has he committed such a dangerous act that he should be jailed, denied bail and held responsible for instigating riots? The judges also expressed their displeasure over the fact that several agencies have started investigation against Zubair.
Various allegations have been leveled against Zubair by the Uttar Pradesh police. His argument was that Zubair was not a journalist. He runs an organization called ‘AltNews’ and through it he earns two crore rupees. Earns annually. In 2018, he retweeted a picture from a film with the caption ‘Honeymool Hotel before 2014, Hanuman Hotel after 2014’. Several other similar charges were leveled against Zubair. All these allegations will now be investigated by a Delhi court.
Even more pathetic case is of Nupur Sharma. In a TV conversation when a speaker made fun of Shivlings, Nupur quoted a hadith in response. This was considered an act of pride in the Prophet and as a result, two people were brutally murdered, Nupur was threatened with murder and she was prosecuted. The unbiased approach adopted by the Supreme Court, rising above the attitude of some people against Zubair and the attitude of some people against Nupur, is the same in a secular India.
