The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to activist Teesta Setalvad, who was arrested for allegedly fabricating evidence to frame “innocent people” in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases. A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia has said that she should render complete cooperation in the pending investigation and asked her to surrender her passport.
The apex court also said it has considered the matter only from the standpoint of interim bail and the Gujarat High Court shall decide Setalvad’s bail plea independently and uninfluenced by any observations made by this court.
In response to the bail plea, the Gujarat government had said that the activist had “enacted” the conspiracy along with other accused at the behest of a senior political leader.
The state government, in an affidavit, had claimed that Setalvad had held meetings with the said political leader and received “large amounts of money”. The affidavit, filed by the chief of the special investigation team (SIT) constituted to probe the case lodged in June this year, said the FIR was not solely based upon the June 24, 2022 judgement of the top court.
The top court had on June 24 dismissed a plea filed by Zakia Jafri, the wife of former Congress MP Ehsaan Jafri who was killed in Ahmedabad during the riots, triggered by the torching of a coach of Sabarmati Express by a mob near Godhra station on February 27, 2002.
Fifty-nine passengers were charred to death in the incident. A sessions court at Ahmedabad, on July 30, rejected the bail applications of Setalvad and former Director General of Police RB Sreekumar in the case, saying that if they were released, it will send a message to wrongdoers that a person can level allegations with impunity and get away with it.
Setalvad and Sreekumar, both arrested in June, are accused of fabricating evidence to frame “innocent people” in the post-Godhra riots cases. They are lodged in the Sabarmati central jail. Sreekumar has also moved the high court for bail.
(with inputs from PTI)
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