No relief for Teesta Setalvad as Supreme Court judges refer case to larger bench

A Supreme Court bench of two judges could not agree on whether to grant relief to activist Teesta Setalvad.

After she approached the top court against the Gujarat High Court’s order to “surrender immediately” in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots case. The judges on Saturday referred her case to the Chief Justice of India to place it before a larger bench.

Justices AS Oka and Prashant Kumar Mishra heard Setalvad’s case.

Setalvad was accused of fabricating evidence and tutoring witnesses in cases related to the 2002 Gujarat riots. Earlier in the day, the Gujarat High Court rejected her bail plea and asked her to surrender immediately.

The Supreme Court had granted interim bail to Setalvad in September 2022 after which, she was released from Gujarat’s Sabarmati jail. She had approached the Gujarat High Court for regular bail, which was rejected by the court on Saturday. The top court’s interim bail protected Setalvad from arrest so far.

WHAT IS THE CASE?
Teesta Setalvad and former top cop RB Sreekumar were arrested for allegedly fabricating evidence, committing forgery, and criminal conspiracy. Teesta was released from Gujarat’s Sabarmati jail in September 2022 after being granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots case.

The FIR filed by the Gujarat ATS also stated that false statements of witnesses had been drafted by Teesta Setalvad and filed before the Nanavati commission set up to investigate the riots.

According to the FIR, Setalvad and Sreekumar had conspired to abuse the process of law by fabricating false evidence and instituting false and malicious criminal proceedings against innocent people.