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Setalvad has challenged the Gujarat High Court order refusing to grant interim bail to her in a case of fabrication of evidence related to the Gujarat riots case.
Teesta Setalvad, who was arrested in June for alleged fabrication of evidence and tutoring of witnesses in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases, has filed a bail plea before the Supreme Court.
The plea was mentioned before a bench of the Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justice JK Maheshwari, and Justice Hima Kohli by Advocate Aparna Bhat, and the same has been directed to be listed on August 22 before a bench headed by Justice UU Lalit.
Teesta Setalvad, a co-petitioner in the plea challenging the clean chit given to then Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots case, was detained by Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad in Mumbai on June 25, 2022.
Earlier, on July 30, a Sessions Court in Ahmedabad rejected the bail applications of Teesta Setalvad and former IPS officer RB Sreekumar.
Later, while refusing to grant interim bail, the Gujarat High Court issued notice to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) seeking its response on the bail application. The High Court is set to hear the matter in September.
Setalvad was taken into custody based on a complaint by police inspector DB Barad. The complaint was filed against Sreekumar, Sanjiv Bhatt, and Setalvad leveling allegations of forgery, criminal conspiracy, and other offences under the Indian Penal Code. An ATS team reached Setalvad’s Mumbai residence in the afternoon the same day and thereupon took her to Santacruz police station.
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court dismissed the plea by Zakia Jafri, challenging the ‘clean chit’ given to the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the riots that followed the Godhra Carnage at Gujarat in 2002.
On Teesta Setalvad, the court took note of the submission that SIT and the state of Gujarat had to implead Teesta Setalvad as a party in the litigation. The judgment noted that the respondents had argued that “Teesta been vindictively persecuting this for her ulterior design by exploiting the emotions and sentiments of Zakia”.
Case Title: Teesta Setalvad vs. State of Gujarat
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