SC issues notice to Gujarat govt on Teesta Setalvad’s bail plea

Issuing the notice to the Gujarat government, a bench presided by Justice U U Lalit said in its order that Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal assisted by Advocate Aparna Bhat had “invited our attention to the contents of FIR…It is submitted that the allegations in the FIR are pure recitation of the proceedings which had happened and culminated in the judgement of this court and beyond such recitation, nothing has been alleged against the petitioner. It is further submitted that the petitioner was taken into custody on June 25, 2022, and since then has been in custody. The application for bail having been rejected, a fresh challenge was preferred in the HC, but the HC while issuing notice, made it returnable on September 19, 2022, and hence the present petition”.

At the outset, Justice Lalit told Sibal that he as a lawyer was associated with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case at one point of time and he doesn’t know whether the petitioner had taken any stand in connection with those matters or not. “It is my duty to tell you that my involvement as a lawyer was involved at a particular point in time”, Justice Lalit said, wondering if he should hear the case.

Sibal, however, said, “We have no issue at all”. The bench, also comprising Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia, recorded the no-objection in its order before proceeding to hear the matter.

Justice Lalit pointed out that while it’s true that the trial court has rejected the bail application, “but the matter at your instance is presently pending in the Gujarat High Court”.

Sibal said “that’s unfortunate because the whole basis of the case emanates from the SC order (in the Zakia Jafri case) which is why an FIR has been filed”. He took the court through the contents of the FIR after which the bench said it will issue notice, making it returnable on August 30.

The senior counsel, however, said “we want interim bail” and prayed for a shorter date. Agreeing for a shorter date, the court kept it for hearing on August 25.

Setalvad’s plea said the appeal was being filed against the final judgement and order dated July 30, passed by the Additional Principal Sessions Judge, City Civil and Sessions Court, Ahmedabad, “refusing to grant bail to the petitioner”, and the August 3 order of Gujarat High Court, which had fixed “an extremely long date in a matter which is about personal liberty”.

The plea cited the SC ruling in Arnab Goswami case, in which the court underlined the importance of liberty and also judgements where the top court had set a timeline for adjudication of bail applications by high courts. It pointed out that in a 2017 ruling, the SC had said that “high courts are requested to ensure that bail applications filed before them are decided as far as possible within one month and criminal appeals where accused are in custody for more than five years are concluded at the earliest”.

Setalvad said, “Both these judgments were not followed in the present case.”

Setalvad said that since she had “challenged the administration at the highest level” over the 2002 post-Godhra riots, and was the “voice of…victims”, she has been “targeted”, and many FIRs registered against her and her organisation. Setalvad pointed out that she had been granted protection by the HC and the SC.

Setalvad and former DGP of Gujarat Police R B Sreekumar were arrested on June 25, a day after the apex court, while dismissing a petition by Zakia Jafri, wife of late Congress MP Ahsan Jafri, upheld the clean chit given by the Special Investigation Team to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots.