Gujarat riots: SC grants activist Teesta Setalvad 7-day interim bail
In a special hearing on Saturday night, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to activist Teesta Setalvad for seven days, staying the Gujarat High Court's "surrender immediately" order. This came a year after the Gujarat Police arrested her for allegedly fabricating evidence linked to the 2002 Gujarat riots. She has so far been protected by the Supreme Court's interim bail granted in September 2022.
Setalvad was first arrested on June 25
Notably, Setalvad was arrested on June 25, 2022, after the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) accused her of conspiring to implicate innocent people in the 2002 riots falsely. She was sent to police remand for seven days and judicial custody on July 2. Along with Setalvad, co-accused former Indian Police Services (IPS) officer RB Sreekumar was also arrested in June last year.
Chargesheet accuses Setalvad of trying to 'implicate' Modi
Setalvad and Sreekumar's arrests came a day after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging the clean chit to then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi over claims of conspiring the riots. Moreover, the chargesheet accused Setalvad of trying to "implicate" Modi, other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, and the then state government by hatching "a conspiracy" to institute a "false case with false evidence."
Setalvad was among first to take up riot victims' cases
Setalvad is a 61-year-old activist-journalist and a Padma Shri awardee based out of Mumbai, Maharashtra. She was among the first activists to take up cases of the 2002 riot victims but almost immediately faced counter-cases. In 2006, she was slapped with several FIRs, one of which accused her and her associates of unauthorized digging on burial places of Muslim riot victims.
SC set up SIT after Setalvad's petition against Modi
Setalvad accused Modi and others of conspiracy for the first time in 2007 in a special criminal application before the Gujarat HC. However, her petition was rejected. She then moved the SC, which constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the violence. The SIT eventually gave a clean chit to Modi and others, while the SC rapped Setalvad and her associates last year.
