After the Supreme Court granted him bail in the UP cases in July 2022—23 days after he was arrested—and disbanded the special investigation team in UP and moved the matters to the Delhi police. The new section 152 BNS, which the police had invoked was the gravest yet, and regarded by lawyers and human rights activists as the new avatar of the colonial era section of sedition under the IPC.
“He was never asked to join the investigation in the other FIRs. It has been more than two years. No chargesheet has been filed. They are lying dormant,” said Vrinda Grover, one of India’s most famous human rights lawyers who is representing Zubair. “That tells us there was nothing ever serious in terms of investigation that was required.”
As Zubair has persisted with his work, not only have his supporters have grown but also his detractors and with them the narrative that he is “anti India” and “anti Hindu”, a trope used by the right wing to discredit and harass people who question or criticise the ruling party, its allies, and Islamophobes who spew hate against minorities.