On Saturday after, Delhi Police produced Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair was produced before the court on the expiry of his five-day custodial interrogation. In a mix-up, the police informed that the court has dismissed the bail plea of Zubair sending him to 14-day judicial custody in a case related to an 'objectionable tweet' he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity.
Speaking to ANI, Zubair's lawyer Soutik Banerjee has questioned the report saying, "Arguments took place until lunch and judge reserved the matter for judgement. The judge has not come after lunch yet. Shocked to see that DCP KPS Malhotra has leaked in media that our bail plea has been rejected and 14-judicial custody granted."
"Extremely scandalous and speaks of status of rule of law in our country today that even before judicial magistrate has sat and pronounced the order, Police has leaked the order to media. How KPS Malhotra knows what the order is beyond me. This calls for introspection," the advocate added.
Responding to the lawyer's objection, DCP KPS Malhotra clarified, "I had a word with my IO, I misheard it due to noise and inadvertently the message was posted in the broadcast."
Meanwhile, the court is set to pronounce their order today at 4 pm.
