Gujarat high court has rejected the bail of Teesta Setalvad
The Gujarat high court denied regular bail for Mumbai-based campaigner Teesta Setalvad on Saturday, ordering her to surrender immediately. The case involves her alleged evidence manipulation in the 2002 post-Godhra riots trials.
The order was issued by Justice Nirzar Desai’s bench, affirming the court’s decision to reject Setalvad’s bail request and ordering her to surrender immediately.
Senior attorney Mihir Thakore petitioned the court for a 30-day stay of execution of the verdict.
Teesta Setalvad was released on bail by the Supreme Court in September of last year. As a result, she was released from judicial detention in the still-underway case.
Setalvad is accused of seeking to implicate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others as part of a bigger plot behind the 2002 riots.
While opposing Setalvad’s application for regular release in the high court on June 15, the state’s prosecution emphasised that the accusations against Setalvad pertain to the alleged fabrication of false evidence.
The prosecution alleged she received 30 lahks from late Congress leader Ahmed Patel to destabilise Gujarat’s Narendra Modi-led government following the 2002 riots.
During the court hearing, the state government described Setalvad as a “tool” of a politician tasked with slandering Gujarat.
Gujarat Police arrested Setalvad and co-accused former IPS R B Sreekumar on June 25 last year. The arrest followed the filing of a first information report (FIR) by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) over an alleged plan to falsely incriminate innocent individuals about the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Setalvad was remanded in court prison on July 2 after a seven-day police remand. Her arrest came a day after the Supreme Court dismissed Zakia Jafri’s petition challenging the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) a clean bill of health for then-Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others in connection with the riots.
Amin, the public prosecutor, had objected to Setalvad’s bail application, claiming that she and two police officers, Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt, conspired to discredit the Gujarat government shortly after the terrible Godhra train event in 2002.
The prosecutor said that Setalvad was likewise persuaded by a politician from a specific political party.
The SIT discovered evidence that Setalvad received financial help from a major leader of a competing political party, according to the SIT. On similar grounds, the government challenged her bail request at the sessions court in July last year.
The prosecutor used witness testimony to back up these charges, including that of Rais Khan, Setalvad’s former close aide who fell out with her in 2008. According to Khan’s statement, Setalvad and Congress politician Patel met at Ahmedabad’s circuit house.
During the meeting, Patel allegedly told Setalvad to ensure that particular people were punished and imprisoned.
Khan’s statement, which claimed the involvement of other IPS officers in their operations, was read out by the prosecutor. The prosecutor also confirmed the chargesheet’s claim that Setalvad received 30 lahks from the Congress leader.
He cited recorded comments from Khan and Narendra Brahmbhatt, who claimed to have paid Setalvad on Patel’s directions. It was also claimed that Setalvad’s efforts were geared at ruining PM Modi’s image and upsetting the existing government.
The prosecution said that Setalvad initially targeted Vitthalbhai Pandya, the father of former home minister Haren Pandya. Still, when he declined to file claims against individuals unrelated to the riots, Setalvad changed her emphasis to Zakia Jafri.
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