Ahmedabad: Social activist Teesta Setalvad could not get any relief from the Supreme Court on Saturday as a two-judge bench differed on granting her interim protection after the Gujarat High Court today rejected her regular bail plea in a case , After which he approached the apex court. Alleged fabrication of evidence in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots.
In a special hearing, a bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra said after a brief hearing that they differ in their judgment and referred their case to Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud for placing it before a larger bench. sent. The Gujarat High Court had directed Setalvad to surrender immediately. Till now she was protected from coercive action due to the Supreme Court’s interim bail order of September 2022.
“We have a difference of opinion on the question of giving him interim protection. Therefore, we request the Chief Justice to refer the matter to a larger bench. The CJI can be requested to set up a larger bench at the earliest. “It is for the CJI to constitute the bench,” Justice Oka said.
At the outset of the hearing, Justice Oka said that he should have been given some time to surrender.
“Could the High Court have given (him) some time to surrender? We are not going into merit right now. On September 22, the Supreme Court passed an order granting him interim bail, he has been on bail for nine months. We can consider the matter on Monday or Tuesday, what is going to happen in 72 hours?” Justice Oka said.
The Solicitor General objected to giving time to Setalvad to surrender. The Solicitor General said, “Please see how the entire state has been defamed, witnesses have been led… He has betrayed the entire institution.”
Setalvad was arrested by the Gujarat Police on June 25, 2022 on an FIR by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to falsely implicate innocent people in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Charges were framed against him under Indian Penal Code sections 468 (forgery for cheating) and 194 (fabricating false evidence with intent to secure punishment for offenses punishable with death). Later on September 2, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Teesta.
The SIT constituted to probe the matter has alleged that Setalvad and Sreekumar were part of a larger conspiracy at the behest of late Congress leader Ahmed Patel to destabilize the then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Narendra Modi. At that time he was the minister of Gujarat. Former IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt is also an accused in this case.
The FIR against Setalvad, Sreekumar and Bhatt was registered after the Supreme Court on June 24 dismissed a petition by Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, challenging the clean chit given by the SIT to Prime Minister Narendra Modi Went. Many others in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
On February 28, 2002, Ehsan Jafri was among the 69 people killed during the violence at Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad. Zakia Jafri has challenged the SIT’s clean chit to 64 people, including Narendra Modi, who was the chief minister of Gujarat during the riots in the state.
He alleged a “larger conspiracy” behind the post-Godhra riots. However, the SIT opposed Jafri’s plea in the top court, saying there was a sinister conspiracy behind the complaint to probe a “larger conspiracy” behind the 2002 Gujarat riots and that Jafri’s original complaint was directed by Teesta Setalvad, who Allegations were made just to keep the pot boiling. (ANI)
Read also: Gujarat HC rejects Teesta Setalvad’s regular bail plea, directs her to ‘surrender immediately’