The Supreme Court has granted activist Teesta Setalvad interim protection from arrest until July 19 in a case related to the fabrication of evidence to frame innocent people in the post-Godhra riots cases.
A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai, AS Bopanna, and Dipankar Datta issued a notice to the Gujarat Government in response to Setalvad’s appeal against the order of the Gujarat High Court which had instructed her to surrender immediately.
The bench said, “Issue notice returnable on July 19, 2023. Whatever documents the parties want to place on record shall be filed before July 15 after exchanging with each other. The interim order will continue until further orders.”
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju requested time for the translation of documents, which the bench agreed to, scheduling the next hearing for July 19. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Setalvad, urged the bench to urgently hear the matter.
On July 1, the apex court protected Setalvad from arrest and stayed the High Court’s order rejecting her plea for regular bail, which had instructed her to surrender immediately. The three-judge bench had questioned the denial of time for Setalvad to appeal against the high court’s order, emphasising that even an ordinary criminal is entitled to interim relief.
The bench noted, “In ordinary circumstances, we would not have considered such a request. However, it is to be noted that after the FIR was registered against the petitioner on June 25, 2022, the petitioner was arrested... This court, considering the application for grant of interim bail, had granted the same on certain conditions, vide order dated September 2, 2022. One of the factors that weighed with this court was that the petitioner was a woman and as such entitled to special protection under Section 437 CrPC.”
The three-judge bench granted the stay on the High Court’s order for a week, allowing Setalvad time to challenge the decision. The matter was heard in a special sitting on July 1 after a two-judge vacation bench on the same day had differed on granting interim protection from arrest to Setalvad.
Teesta Setalvad, along with former Gujarat Director General of Police RB Sreekumar and ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, was arrested in June last year on charges of fabricating evidence to frame innocent people in the post-Godhra riots cases.
The Gujarat High Court had observed that Setalvad had used her close associates and riot victims to file false and fabricated affidavits to undermine the establishment and tarnish the image of the then Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, who is now the Prime Minister. Setalvad had previously obtained interim bail from the apex court in September of last year.