New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to activist Teesta Setalvad, who is under custody for the alleged fabrication of documents to file cases in relation to the 2002 Gujarat riots.
She has been asked to surrender her passport to the trial court, till the Gujarat high court decides on her regular bail plea.
The order was passed by a bench of Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia after Setalvad moved the top court against a Gujarat High Court order which had given a long adjournment in Setalvad’s bail plea while not passing any order of interim bail.
“It must be said that matter is still pending before High Court. We are, therefore, not considering whether Setalvad is released on bail or not and High Court shall decide the same. We are only on during pendency of such application, should the custody of appellant be insisted upon or be granted interim bail. Thus we grant Teesta Setalvad interim bail,” the Court ordered.
The court further stated that it has only considered the matter from the standpoint of interim bail, and that the Gujarat high court will decide Teesta Setalvad’s bail plea independently and without relating to any observations made by the Supreme Court.
The case was heard again on Thursday when CJI UU Lalit said orally that the charges against Setalvad are normal IPC offences with no bar to bail.
“There is no offence in this case which comes with a rider that bail cannot be granted, like Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002,” the chief justice had noted at Thursday’s hearing.
Gujarat Police arrested Setalvad on June 26, two days after the Supreme Court dismissed allegations of a “larger conspiracy” levelled by Zakia Jafri, wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior Gujarat officials in the 2002 Gujarat riots case.
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