SC Grants Regular Bail To Activist Setalvad In Post-Godhra Riots Case

Teesta Setalvad, a social activist accused of forging documents and training witnesses in cases involving the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat, was granted regular bail by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The top court said that she should be allowed bail because a chargesheet has been filed and her custodial interrogation is over.

Justices B R Gavai, A S Bopanna, and Dipankar Datta, a three-judge bench overturned the Gujarat high court’s decision to deny her request for regular bail.

The activist would be classified as being on continuous bail as of September 2, 2022, but the SC panel warned her against influencing any witnesses.

“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,” it said.

The bench also allowed Gujarat Police the freedom to approach the Supreme Court directly if an attempt is made to persuade witnesses in the case.

Setalvad previously received interim protection from the supreme court after the Gujarat high court rejected her regular bail in the case.

Justice Desai denied Setalvad’s request for a 30-day stay of the judge’s ruling so that she could appeal to the supreme court as she had been out on interim bail for nearly a year. The Supreme Court granted the activist interim bail on September 2, 2022.

This took place after the high court accepted her bail request and scheduled a hearing for 45 days later.

After the top court denied Zakia Jafri’s appeal against the closure report submitted by a special investigation team (SIT) providing clean chits to PM Modi and others, Setalvad, along with former DGP RB Sreekumar and another ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, were detained in June 2022.

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