Who is Teesta Setalvad and what is the case against her?
Social activist Teesta Setalvad is an accused in a case related to falsifying evidence in the 2002 Gujarat riots case.
The Supreme Court late on Saturday evening protected activist Teesta Atul Setalvad from arrest for a week in connection with a case involving falsifying evidence in the 2002 Gujarat riots case. The dramatic development came after the Gujarat high court dismissed Setalvad’s regular bail plea and directed her to surrender immediately.
The high court also rejected her plea for an interim bail for 30 days. The Mumbai-based activist was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in September last year and was consequently released from judicial custody in the case.
The high court order compelled Setalvad to rush to the top court, which allowed her an urgent hearing. In the Supreme Court, the matter was referred to a larger three-judge bench at 9pm, after a two-judge bench failed to agree on granting her protection earlier. Setalvad was, at last, provided the interim bail relief by the three-judge bench led by justice BR Gavai, which observed that “heavens won’t fall if the interim protection is granted".
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Who is Teesta Setalvad?
1)Setalvad is accused of indulging in a larger conspiracy surrounding the 2002 Gujarat riots and purportedly making efforts to implicate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other individuals in the riots. The prosecution alleged that she received ₹30 lakh from late Congress leader Ahmed Patel, with the aim of the Gujarat government led by Modi following the 2002 post-Godhra riot cases.
2)The 61-year-old activist-journalist was arrested on June 25, with two others, for fabricating evidence to frame “innocent people” in the cases. The arrest came a day after the top court gave a clean chit to Modi, who was the then Gujarat chief minister and others in the case.
3)An FIR was filed against her and former Gujarat director general of police RB Sreekumar and ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, after the apex court dismissed the plea filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who had challenged the clean chit given by the SIT to Modi and others. Jafri had alleged a "larger conspiracy" behind the post-Godhra incident riots. However, the SIT in the apex court had opposed the plea and claimed her complaint was directed by Teesta Setalvad, who levelled allegations just to “keep the pot boiling”.
4)Setalvad was awarded Padma Shri, one of the highest civilian awards in the country, by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in 2007 and currently serves as the secretary of ‘Citizens for Justice and Peace’, a human rights organisation she founded in 2002.
5)She has also served as a former member of the erstwhile Planning Commission.