The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted regular bail to activist Teesta Setalvad in a case relating to the fabrication of evidence to frame innocent people in the 2002 Gujarat riots case that occurred post-Godhra incident.
A three-judge bench of Justices BR Gavai, AS Bopanna and Dipankar Datta set aside the order while rejecting the plea for regular bail.
Supreme Court bench while granting the plea to the activist said that the chargesheet has been filed against Setalvad and her custodial interrogation is not necessary.
“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,” the bench said in its order. The bench has also granted full liberty to the Gujarat police to directly move to the apex court if any attempt is made to influence witnesses in the case.
Activist Teesta Setalvad was taken into custody on June 25 last year for allegedly fabricating evidence to frame innocent people in the post-Godhra riots case. Former Gujarat Director General of police RB Sreekumar and ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt were among those who were taken into custody along with Setalvad.
An sessions court in Ahmedabad rejected the bail applications of Setalvad and Sreekumar on July 30, 2022 saying that their release would send message to wrongdoers that a person can level allegations with impunity and get away with it.
The High Court issued a notice to the state government on August 3, 2022 on the bail plea of Setalvad and fixed the hearing of the matter on September 19. Setalvad moved to Supreme court for consideration of interim bail after the high court refused to entertain her plea.
The apex court granted her interim bail on September 2 of last year on the conditions of surrender of passport with the trial court till the time Gujarat high court decide on her regular bail plea.
