The Supreme Court on Wednesday, July 19, granted bail to activist Teesta Setalvad in the alleged fabrication of evidence case in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots. Quashing the Gujarat High Court order which denied the activist a bail, a three-judge SC bench comprising Justices BR Gavai, AS Bopanna and Dipankar Datta, observed that the HC order was “perverse” and “contradictory”.
The Gujarat HC, on July 1, had refused to grant bail to Teesta, who in turn rushed to the apex court for relief. The SC, in a late night hearing, on the same day, stayed the Gujarat High Court order directing activist Teesta Setalvad to “surrender immediately” and granted her interim protection for seven days. This was later extended till July 19.
Teesta, a civil rights activist based in Mumbai, has been facing allegations of fabricating evidence in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots, which critics observe as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vendetta against her. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat when the pogrom took place.
She was first arrested on June 25, 2022, by the Gujarat Police based on an FIR filed by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB). The charges against her include conspiring to falsely implicate innocent individuals in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots. After seven days in police remand, Teesta was sent to judicial custody on July 2.
Teesta and former IPS officer R B Sreekumar who investigated the Gujarat riots were arrested in the case after the Supreme Court dismissed the plea filed by Zakia Jafri, wife of slain Congress MP Ahsan Jafri, against the Special Investigation Team' giving clean chit to Modi.