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The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Teesta Setalvad stating that since she is a woman and has been in custody since June 26, 2022 and in light of the documents which were presented and those which are alleged against her in light of the FIR, pertain to year 2002 and going by assertions, at best, the concerned documents were sought to be presented till 2012.

A bench of CJI UU Lalit, Justices Ravindra Bhatt & Sudhanshu S Dhulia also noted that in this light, it is important to note that the machinery had the advantage of custodial interrogation for 7 days. 

The bench also added that the said interim bail order is not to be used as a reflection in the regular bail hearing before Supreme Court and that since she is a lady, other accused in the present case shall be entitled to benefit of the instant order and that it may be considered independently.

"We have not expressed ANY view on merits in Appellants case. Entire matter SHALL be considered by High Court, independent of any observations or order made by this Court. Since appellant happens to be a lady, this shall not be taken as a reflection and should not be used by other accused as and when the situation arises. The issues in those cases to be taken up independently. "We are not considering whether Setalvad will be released or not, That will be gone into by High Court. We are only considering this from standpoint of custody for her or grant of interim bail," the bench noted. 

The Court has also asked Teesta Setalvad to surrender her passport, says she shall be produced before concerned court and she shall be released on interim bail with conditions as the court thinks fit.

In this light, the bench has granted interim bail to Setalvad who has been inter alia accused of fabricating evidence in order to embroil "innocent persons" in false cases concerning Gujarat Riots of 2002.

In her plea, Setalvad has claimed that she has been targeted by the state as she raised critical issues before this Court challenging the administration.

The Gujarat Government, one the other hand had told Supreme Court that there is no reason to give "special treatment" to Teesta Setalvad who

Her bail plea was rejected by an Ahmedabad court on July 30. Teesta Setalvad, a co-petitioner in the plea before Supreme Court challenging “clean chit” given to then Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots case, was detained by Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad on June 25, 2022.

Supreme Court had remarked that the plea by Zakia Jafri was filed with 'Ulterior Design' and that the protest petition against the Magistrate's order which accepted the closure report of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) was being pursued at behest of "dictation" of someone.

While dismissing the plea which challenged the clean chit to Narendra Modi in Gujarat Riots observed that the present proceedings have been pursued for the last 16 years to "keep the pot boiling, obviously, for ulterior design". While wrapping its knuckles on such abuse of process, top court added that those involved need to “be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with law.”  

Following the judgment, Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) proceeded to arrest Teesta Setalvad in connection with a fresh case of forgery, criminal conspiracy and placing false evidence in court to frame innocent people in the 2002 Gujarat riots case. Teesta Setalvad and others have been booked under IPC sections 468 (forgery) and 194 (giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offence) among other offences.

The SIT had vehemently argued against grant of bail in Ahmedabad Court, stating that ocular and documentary evidence collected by it reveals that ample grounds exists to support allegation of larger conspiracy to achieve "political, financial and other material benefits" by means of executing a larger and well thought of conspiracy.

The court had also pointed out that it was argued by respondents that Teesta Setalvad had been vindictively pursuing the litigation for her ulterior design by exploiting the emotions and sentiments of Zakia. Interestingly, the same phrase has been used in the judgment's concluding remarks. 

Case Title: Teesta A Setalvad Vs. State of Gujarat