CASE: Mohammed Zubair v. State of U.P. 2022 (AB) 291
Shubhi Rathore | Prabhat BandhulyaThe writ petition was filed by Mohammed Zubair, Co-founder of Alt News, to quash the FIR
filed against him for the tweet that he posted on twitter, calling the managers of religious places as “hate mongers”. The petitioner contends that he did not insult nor did he attempt to insult the sentiments of religious class by his tweets and the FIR are filed to harass him and hence, must be quashed. Whereas, the respondent contends that the petitioner is an habitual offender and has been involved in such tweets on several occasions. Moreover, the petitioner has committed a cognizable offence and therefore, the writ petition should be dismissed and FIR must not be quashed.
Allahabad HC relied upon the case of Neeharika Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. v. State of Maharashtra and ors. 2021 SC 315, where the SC held that quashing of FIR should not be a routine practice rather should be done occasionally in rarest of rare cases. The power under Section 482 Cr.P.Care wide but must be used with caution. In the present case, Allahabad HC held that the writ petition is dismissed as it lacks merit and there is sufficient ground to investigate in the case.
CASE: Mohammed Zubair v. State of U.P. 2022 (AB) 291