Supreme Court Grants Teesta Setalvad Regular Bail, Says HC Findings ‘Perverse’

Pic courtesy Deccan Herald

New Delhi: In a major ‘victory’ for Teesta Setalvad, the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted regular bail to the activist in the case related to her alleged role in fabricating evidence during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

The country’s top court quashed the Gujarat High Court’s order denying bail to Setalvad. In a scathing observation, Supreme Court said the findings made in High Court’s order were “perverse.”

However, the bench of Justices BR Gavai, AS Bopanna and Dipankar Datta also said that Teesta would not make an attempt to influence witnesses and be away from them. Further, if Setalvad makes any attempt to influence witnesses, Gujarat Police is at liberty to directly move Supreme Court.

The three-judge bench said that custodial interrogation of Setalvad is not necessary, and a chargesheet has been filed in the case against her.

“The passport of the appellant already surrendered will be in custody of session court. The appellant shall not make any attempt to influence witnesses and shall stay away from them,” PTI quoted the Supreme Court bench as saying.

Earlier this month, the apex court had paused Gujarat High Court’s asking Setalvad to surrender immediately.

It was on June 25 last year that Setalvad was taken into custody along with former Gujarat DGP RB Sreekumar and ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in a case registered by Ahmedabad crime branch police for allegedly fabricating evidence to frame innocent people in the post-Godhra riots cases.