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Supreme Court protects activist Teesta Setalvad from arrest for a week, stays Gujarat HC order
The apex court had earlier granted an interim bail to the activist who was accused of fabricating evidence and tutoring witnesses in the 2002 riots case.
The three-judge Supreme Court bench has put a stay on Gujarat high court order referring to ‘immediate surrender’ of Mumbai-based activist Teesta Setalvad's in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots case. She has been given an interim protection from arrest for a week.
During the special hearing, the apex court asked about the ‘urgency’ over Setalvad's surrender, given that she is already out of judicial custody on an interim bail.
“Will the skies fall if interim protection granted…We are taken by surprise by what the High Court has done. What is the alarming urgency?" it asked.
A two-judge bench comprising Justices AS Oka and PK Mishra had earlier referred the matter to a larger bench observing that Setalvad should have been granted some time by the Gujarat high court before she could surrender. The larger bench of Justices BR Gavai, AS Bopanna and Dipankar Datta later heard the case.
Following orders from Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, the matter will be taken up after a week by a regular bench.
The apex court had earlier granted an interim bail to the activist who was accused of fabricating evidence and tutoring witnesses in the 2002 riots case. She had been shielded from arrest through the interim bail by the top court ever since, leading to her release from judicial custody.
Following this, Setalvad approached the Gujarat high court for a regular bail, which was rejected on Saturday and the court urged her to ‘surrender immediately’.
What is the case?
Seetalvad along with co-accused former IPS officer RB Sreekumar had been arrested on June 25 last year for allegedly fabricating evidence along with committing forgery and criminal conspiracy over framing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others. The arrest came following a first information report (FIR) filed by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) regarding alleged conspiracy to falsely implicate innocent individuals in relation to the 2002 Gujarat riots.
On June 15, the state’s prosecution, while opposing Setalvad’s plea for regular bail in the high court, claimed that she received ₹30 lakh from late Congress leader Ahmed Patel, with the aim of destabilising the Narendra Modi-led government in Gujarat after the riots in 2002.
The state government, during the court hearing, labeled Setalvad as a “tool” of a politician with the task of defaming Gujarat.
