Supreme Court to hear bail plea of activist Teesta Setalvad

A bench presided over by CJI-designate, Justice UU Lalit, will hear Setalvad's plea on August 22.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear next week the bail plea of social activist Teesta Setalvad, who was arrested in June for alleged fabrication of evidence and tutoring of witnesses in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases.

With the case against her being lodged on the strength of observations made by the top court in its June 24 decision dismissing the petition filed by riots victim Zakia Jafri — seeking an independent probe into the larger conspiracy behind the 2002 riots, where Teesta Setalvad had moved an application to intervene — Setalvad said in her petition, “The petitioner strongly believes that she has been targeted by the state as she raised critical issues before this Court challenging the administration.”

Challenging the rejection of her bail by a city court in Ahmedabad on July 30 followed by the order of Gujarat high court on August 3 posting the matter for September, Setalvad, through her lawyer Aparna Bhat, sought an urgent hearing of her appeal.

The SC’s order said, “The Registry is directed to list the matter on August 22 before a bench presided over by Justice Uday Umesh Lalit.”

While dismissing the petition filed by Zakia Jafri, the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed during the riots at Gulbarg Society, the apex court in its June 24 verdict had commented that the petitioners had the “audacity” to question the integrity of the SIT and every functionary involved in the process with an intention to “keep the pot boiling” for an ulterior design. It then said, “All those involved in such abuse of process, need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with law.”