Teesta Setalvad gets relief from SC, hours after Gujarat HC asked her to surrender

Teesta Setalvad

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court on July 1 granted social activist Teesta Setalvad one week of protection from being arrested by the Gujarat police. This decision relates to a case involving the alleged fabrication of evidence to falsely implicate innocent individuals in the post-Godhra riots cases of 2002.

The court has stayed the order of the Gujarat High Court, which had denied Setalvad regular bail and ordered her to surrender. This stay will remain in effect for one week. The three-judge bench has also directed that the case be brought before Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud so that a regular bench can be assigned to hear the case.

Earlier in the evening, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court referred the case to Chief Justice DY Chandrachud after they disagreed on whether interim protection should be granted to Setalvad.

The hearing took place late on a Saturday evening following the Gujarat High Court's rejection of Setalvad's regular bail plea. Justice Nirzar Desai directed her to surrender immediately, as she had been out of jail on interim bail granted by the apex court in September of the previous year.

Setalvad, along with former Gujarat Director General of Police R B Sreekumar and ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, was taken into custody on June 25 of the previous year in a case registered by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch Police. The case accused them of fabricating evidence to frame innocent people in the post-Godhra riots cases.

An Ahmedabad sessions court had rejected the bail applications of Setalvad and Sreekumar on July 30, 2022, stating that their release would send a message that individuals could make allegations without consequences.

On August 3, 2022, the High Court issued a notice to the state government regarding Setalvad's bail plea and scheduled the hearing for September 19.

Meanwhile, Setalvad approached the Supreme Court for interim bail after the High Court refused to consider her plea.

On September 2, 2022, the apex court granted her interim bail and required her to surrender her passport to the trial court until the Gujarat High Court made a decision on her regular bail plea.

Setalvad was released from jail on September 3.