Activist Teesta Setalvad gets interim bail from Supreme Court

Activist Teesta Setalvad was arrested on June 26, 2022 (Image: PTI)

The Supreme Court on September 2 granted interim bail to activist Teesta Setalvad, who was arrested over two months ago by the Gujarat Police.

The apex court, while issuing the order, said it has considered Setalvad's plea only from the standpoint of interim bail. The Gujarat High Court will continue to hear the proceedings in the case independently, without being influenced by the observations made by the top court, it said, according to news agency ANI.

Setalvad, along with retired IPS officer RB Sreekumar, was arrested on June 26, after being accused of fabricating evidence to frame "innocent people" in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases.

The case was was registered against them in Ahmedabad under Indian Penal Code sections 468 (forgery for cheating) and 194 (fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offences).

Setalvad, while being granted the interim bail, has been directed by the Supreme Court to render complete cooperation in the investigation and to surrender her passport, the ANI report said.

The bail plea was heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia. It was taken up for hearing a day after the apex court wondered why the Gujarat HC had listed the matter for hearing on September 19.

"We will hear this case tomorrow at 2 pm. Give us instances where a lady accused in such cases has got such dates from high court. Either this lady has been made an exception....How can the court give this date? Is this standard practice in Gujarat?" news agency PTI quoted the CJI as saying on September 1.

Setalvad is currently lodged in Sabarmati central jail. Her arrest was made within a couple of days after the Supreme Court had, on June 24, dismissed a petition filed by Zakia Jafri, whose husband and former Congress MP Ehsaan Jafri was killed during the riots in Ahmedabad, challenging the Special Investigation Team's clean chit to 64 people, including the then chief minister Narendra Modi.

(With PTI inputs)