Activist Teesta Setalvad was detained by Gujarat Police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad from Mumbai on Friday evening. According to news agency ANI, Setalvad was taken into custody from her residence and then taken to Santacruz police station.
Setalvad was detained in connection with an FIR registered against her at the Ahmedabad city crime branch, sources told news agency PTI. “Teesta Setalvad has been picked up by the Gujarat ATS from Mumbai in connection with an FIR registered by the Ahmedabad crime branch,” a source in the Gujarat ATS said.
#WATCH Mumbai: Gujarat ATS leaves Santacruz police station after detaining Teesta Setalvad pic.twitter.com/7qmyfIeyj5
– ANI (@ANI) June 25, 2022
The development comes a day after Supreme Court had dismissed a petition challenging the clean chit given by the SIT to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and others in the 2002 post-Godhra riots cases.
SC dismissed the appeal filed by Zakia Jafri, wife of Congress leader Ehsan Jafri who was killed during the violence at Ahmedabad’s Gulberg Society in 2002. Setlavad was a co-petitioner in the 2002 Gujarat riots case.
Setalvad’s NGO had supported Zakia Jafri throughout her legal battle. Jafri’s husband Ehsan Jafri was killed during the riots. A Mumbai Police officer said Setalvad was picked up by the Gujarat Police from her Santacruz residence.
Setalvad, 60, is an Indian civil rights activist and journalist. She is also the secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace, an organisation formed to advocate for the victims of 2002 Gujarat riots.