Triumph of liberty over tyranny: Chidambaram after Zubair’s release

New Delhi, July 20: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the release of Mohammed Zubair after the Supreme Court's orders is the "triumph of liberty over tyranny" and held that the judgement reaffirms abuse of power of arrest must be ended.

The former union minister said every lover of liberty should tweet using the hashtag 'I am Mohammed Zubair'.

"Grateful to the SC for releasing Mohammed Zubair. It is the triumph of liberty over tyranny. The SC should release all other Zubairs too and put an end to the abuse of the power of arrest," he said on Twitter.

"Tweet your thoughts on the precious rights of liberty and freedom. After the SC judgement dated July 11, 2022, today's judgement re-affirms that the abuse of the power of arrest must be ended," Chidambaram also said.

Twenty-four days after his arrest, the Alt News co-founder walked free from Tihar jail here on Wednesday night, within hours of the Supreme Court granting him interim bail in all FIRs lodged in Uttar Pradesh against him, saying "exercise of the power of arrest must be pursued sparingly".

The court said it finds "no reason or justification for the deprivation of his liberty to persist any further", ordered the disbanding of the SIT constituted by the Uttar Pradesh police and directed the transfer of all Uttar Pradesh cases to Delhi.

A bench of justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and AS Bopanna also refused to restrain Zubair from tweeting in the future as sought by the Uttar Pradesh government, saying can a lawyer be restrained from arguing.