The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to activist Teesta Setalvad stating her custodial interrogation is no longer necessary. The court said that the evidence required for the alleged fabrication of evidence linked to the 2002 Gujarat riots case is already in possession of the prosecution, thus ruling out any possibility of tampering.
The SC was hearing a plea of Setalvad against Gujarat High Court order dismissing her bail in the case. The apex court had extended interim protection from arrest till July 19.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai, A S Bopanna and Dipankar Datta issued a notice to the Gujarat government on Setalvad’s appeal against the Gujarat High Court order. “Issue notice returnable on July 19, 2023. Whatever documents parties want to place on record shall be filed prior to July 15 after exchanging with each other. Interim order to continue until further orders,” the bench said.
In June last year, Teesta Setalvad, along with two others — former Director General of Police (DGP) RB Sreekumar and ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt — were arrested by the city crime branch on charges of forgery and the fabrication of false evidence, with the alleged purpose of securing convictions for capital offenses related to the 2002 riots cases.
ollowing her arrest, Setalvad was later granted bail.
However, on July 1, the Gujarat High Court rejected her bail plea and ordered her immediate surrender. The court’s decision came as it observed her alleged attempts to undermine the then democratically-elected government and tarnish the image of the then chief minister and current Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
SIT Probe
According to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe, Setalvad was allegedly involved in a larger conspiracy, which was orchestrated at the direction of the late Congress leader, Ahmed Patel. The purported objective of this conspiracy was to destabilize the then ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, led by then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, in the aftermath of the post-Godhra riots in 2002.
As per the allegations, Patel facilitated a payment of Rs 30 lakh to Setalvad, which was purportedly utilized for the said purpose.
An FIR was lodged against them after the Supreme Court dismissed the plea filed by Zakia Jafri. Zakia Jafri is the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was killed in the riots. The plea had accused a “larger conspiracy” related to the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat, implicating the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 63 others. However, the Supreme Court upheld the clean chit given by the SIT to Modi and the 63 co-accused individuals.
