Activist Teesta Setalvad to continue on bail, says Supreme Court

Bench quashes Gujarat High Court order for her immediate surrender in a forgery case linked to the 2002 riots; the apex court says the HC order is riddled with ‘contradictions’

Social activist Teesta Setalvad. File. | Photo Credit: PTI

The Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed a July 1 order of the Gujarat High Court directing activist Teesta Setalvad to surrender immediately in a forgery case linked to the 2002 riots.

The apex court said Ms. Setalvad would continue on bail in accordance with a September 2, 2022 order of the Supreme Court.

“The FIR [First Information Report] you filed in this case in June 2022 says she fabricated the statements [of the riot victims] given to the Special Investigation Team [SIT]. These statements were given in 2008 till 2011… What were you doing since 2011?” a Special Bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai asked the Gujarat police, represented by Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, for Ms. Setalvad, said the contents of victims’ statements/affidavits were never challenged in the past 20 years. “Why now? There is no logic,” he submitted.

The Bench, also comprising Justices A.S. Bopanna and Dipankar Datta, said the High Court order, spanning over a 100 pages, proved to be an “interesting read” and was riddled with “contradictions”.

For one, the High Court judge, having resolved to stick to the limited issue of bail and not wander off into the merits of the case, goes on to do exactly that with an elaborate discussion of the evidence against Ms. Setalvad, the Bench noted.

The apex court found no reason to send Ms. Setalvad, also represented by senior advocate C.U. Singh and advocate Aparna Bhat, into custody. It said the charge sheet was already filed in the case. Custodial questioning was not necessary as the evidence in the case was documentary and in the hands of the police. Besides, the Bench said she was a woman and had already undergone arrest, police custody and detention in the case.

Ms. Setalvad was arrested from Mumbai on June 25 last year by a team of Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad officers. Her arrest was based on an FIR registered in Gujarat the previous day. The FIR was triggered by a Supreme Court judgment on June 24, 2022. The verdict had dismissed allegations of a “larger conspiracy” behind the riots, hatched with the connivance of the highest government functionaries at the time, including then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the current Prime Minister.

The judgment had lashed out at “disgruntled Gujarat officials” and “others” for “keeping the pot boiling” in the State all these years after the riots for their own ulterior motives. The June 24 judgment even said these people ought to be “put in the dock”.

On Wednesday, Mr. Sibal submitted that Ms. Setalvad was not even part of the Supreme Court proceedings and the observations in the June 24 verdict should not have been used to register an FIR against her.

“What investigation could you do in 24 hours between the registration of this FIR and her arrest the next day?” the Special Bench asked Gujarat.

‘Serious crime’

Mr. Raju maintained that the activist had committed a “serious” crime and tried to destabilise an elected government in Gujarat by deliberately fabricating evidence.

In the FIR, Ms. Setalvad is accused, among other crimes, of forgery (Section 468 IPC) and fabricating evidence intending to convict a person in a capital offence (Section 194 IPC). Both Sections 194 and 468 feature non-bailable offences.

However, on September 2 last year, the Supreme Court granted Ms. Setalvad interim bail on the ground that she was a woman who had already undergone seven days of police remand and suffered two months in custody since her arrest on June 25.

Ms. Setalvad was out on bail until the July 1 order of the High Court, which refused her plea for regular bail and ordered her immediate surrender. The apex court had stayed the order to surrender in a late-night hearing within hours of the High Court’s pronouncement.