Delhi court reserves order on Mohammed Zubair's bail plea
New Delhi, Jul 14: A Delhi court will pronounce its order Friday on the bail plea filed by Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in a case related to an objectionable tweet he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity.
Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala on Thursday reserved the order after hearing arguments from the counsel appearing for the accused as well as the prosecution.
A magisterial court had on July 2 dismissed his bail plea and sent him to 14-day judicial custody (JC) in the case, citing the nature and gravity of the offences against the accused and observing that the matter was at the initial stage of the investigation.
The court had sent him to JC after his five-day custodial interrogation.
The accused has challenged the magisterial court order denying him bail.
During the arguments on Thursday the prosecution submitted that along with the picture in the centre of the case, Zubair had used 'before 2014' and 'after 2014' with the intention to incite the people.
The sessions court then asked what changed in 2014, except the government, and if the tweet was a criticism of the government.
Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava said the accused wanted to incite people and create ill will among them.
The court further asked the prosecution if the probe agency had collected statements of people who felt offended.
How many people felt offended? How many statements you've collected, the judge asked.
The prosecutor told the court that it would be done in the due course.
Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for Zubair, told the court that no foreign contribution was received by the accused personally or his company Pravda media.
Our website says we do not receive foreign contributions since we are not registered under FCRA provisions. All this is on my website and in the public domain. My website says only Indian citizens with Indian accounts can contribute. We ask for all information of donor, including PAN number, e-mail i.d., the counsel said.
She further said that the CEO of Razor Pay, through which the company received money, put out a statement after his arrest that Alt News was enabled to receive only domestic payment.
Therefore, the claim, that Pravda Media received money from certain Muslim countries is unfortunate, and only to sensitise the matter, she said.
She added that in a democracy, fake news is not going to help people to make their decision, that's why people with little money also are helping my work.
The counsel further said, An Indian citizen may live in other countries, and if they pay money it doesn't become foreign money. If they send money to someone in India, the IP address will be of the country they're living in, but that does not become foreign money. The IP address is not the basis of an accusation of foreign funding.
Bank account number and PAN number remain the same and therefore doner's identification cannot be concealed, she said, adding that the accused took every precaution that the foreign money does not come to his company's account.
The counsel reiterated the argument that the picture was taken from a 1983 movie by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and played the relevant clip of the movie before the court.
Hrishikesh Mukherjee made the joke, film board passed it. We live in a robust democracy, where governments come and go, and elections are held every five years. People of this country enjoy much freedom including freedom to make jokes, the counsel said.
The counsel further said that Zubair's four-year-old tweet was dug out by one anonymous Twitter user, which was his first tweet since creating his account.
Someone digs out the four-year-old tweet, and I (Zubair) am being accused of creating unrest in the country, she said.
The prosecution opposed the bail plea, saying the website of the accused's company says only Indian citizens should pay, but they are also receiving money from others.
Someone is paying and you're accepting it Rs 56 lakh rupee has been received in violation of FCRA, the prosecution said.
The prosecutor further said that forgery was also committed in this which we are probing.
This case needs further probe, and if he comes out he may delete information and influence, other persons, not to help in the probe, he said.
Gumnaam (nameless) will remain Gumnaam if he comes out We have given notices to banks. There might be chances that his people might have sent money to his account, to evade liability of Income Tax Act, he said.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
