Teesta Setalvad moves Gujarat HC after Ahmedabad sessions court denies bail

Anti-communalism activist Teesta Setalvad moved the Gujarat high court for bail on Monday after an earlier application was rejected by a sessions court in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

Setalvad is facing a police investigation into charges of conspiracy and fabrication of evidence in connection with the probe into the Gulberg Society massacre during the Gujarat riots of 2002.

The investigation was opened by the Detection of Crime branch of the Gujarat police with a first information report (FIR) on July 25, a day after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by Zakia Jafri, wife of slain former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, and passed some strong remarks against Setalvad and others.

While upholding the clean chit given to then chief minister Narendra Modi by a special investigation team appointed by it to probe his role in the riots, the court observed that “all those involved in such abuse of process need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with law”.

Setalvad and Sreekumar are currently in judicial custody in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati jail. While rejecting their bail plea, the sessions court observed that any such move would “encourage” wrongdoers.

The judge further said that Setalvad’s past conduct shows that “she is having [the] nature to derail the investigation in [the] present case if she is enlarged on bail”.

Published on: Monday, August 01, 2022, 11:24 PM IST