2002 Gujarat riots: Teesta, Sreekumar’s bail pleas rejected
Denying relief to the accused, additional principal judge DD Thakkar in his order said the accused apparently aimed to “destabilise” the Gujarat government and defame the state for their ulterior motives.
A sessions court in Ahmedabad on Saturday rejected the bail applications of activist Teesta Setalvad and former director general of police RB Sreekumar, arrested for allegedly fabricating documents to frame innocent people in 2002 Gujarat riots cases.
Denying relief to the accused, additional principal judge DD Thakkar in his order said the accused apparently aimed to “destabilise” the Gujarat government and defame the state for their ulterior motives. Granting bail to the accused would encourage the wrong-doers that in spite of “making such accusations against the then chief minister and others, the court has lightly enlarged them on bail”, the judge said.
“It appears that the accused aimed to destabilise the government and tarnish the image of Gujarat within the country and abroad by using false documents to accuse the then government of having sponsored post-Godhra riots,” the court said in the 24-page order, a copy of which HT has seen. “It appears…they did so for their ulterior motives as well as political aspirations and for obtaining personal goal and monetary benefit from one political faction as well as other countries.”
Former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who is also an accused in the case, did not apply for bail.
On June 25, the Gujarat Police arrested Setalvad and Sreekumar after a first information report (FIR) was registered against them under sections 468 (forgery for cheating) and 194 (fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offences) of the Indian Penal Code.
The arrests came a day after the Supreme Court ruled out a larger conspiracy behind the 2002 Gujarat riots and expressed the need to proceed against those “disgruntled officers” and others whose “coalesced effort was to create sensation by making false revelations”.
On June 24, the Supreme Court upheld the clean chit given by the court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) in February 2012 to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and 62 others in connection with the riots and dismissed a petition filed by Zakia Jafri, whose husband Ehsan Jafri was killed in the riots, alleging a larger conspiracy.
Zakia Jafri and Setalvad’s organisation — Citizens for Justice and Peace — have blamed Modi and 62 others for alleged inaction during the communal riots.
The sessions court said the case has been registered against the accused pursuant to the final decision of the complaint given by Zakia Jafri that she was guided by both these applicants-accused and others.
Setalvad, Sreekumar and others were “actively involved in the conspiracy against the then CM and ministers, police officers as well as bureaucrat etc.…”, the court noted.
“It is also important to note that Setalvad had tried to pressurise the media and she had written a letter to amicus curiae (friend of the court), a conduct that itself shows she is having nature to derail the investigation in present case, if she is enlarged on bail,” the court said.
Judge Thakkar said there is no need to give details and elaborate reasons for the order. “If I do so, then it will adversely affect the right of the parties as well as investigation and it amounts to evaluate the evidence without the trial. Therefore, considering the police papers, I am of the view not to grant relief as prayed for,” he said in the order.
The Gujarat government formed an SIT to probe into the role of Setalvad, Sreekumar and Bhatt after the FIR was lodged against them for giving false testimonies in connection to 2002 Gujarat riots case.
Opposing the bail pleas, the SIT in its 12-page affidavit claimed that Setalvad had carried out a larger conspiracy after the 2002 riots at the behest of veteran Congress leader, late Ahmed Patel, the political advisor to party president Sonia Gandhi, to destabilise the elected state government that was under the leadership of CM Modi at that time.
Earlier this month, a metropolitan court in Ahmedabad sent Sanjiv Bhatt to judicial custody after his seven-day remand ended on July 20. Before getting arrested in this case, Bhatt was already lodged at Palanpur jail in Banaskantha district in connection with a separate case.
Advocate Somnath Vats, who represented Setalvad in the case, did not respond to phone calls for comments on the development.
