From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Refusing an exparte interim bail to social activist Teesta Setalvad in custody in the alleged fabrication of documents to frame the innocent people in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases, the Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Gujarat Government, returnable on Thursday.
Presiding judge Justice Uday Umesh Lalit at the outset asked if any counsel has objection to hearing the case since he had represented some of the accused in the Sohrabuddin murder case, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Teests, aid “No.”
As regards the FIR against her, Sibal said its allegations are pure recitation of the proceedings which happened and culminated before the top court.
“We issue notice returnable on Thursday. Serve state of Gujarat standing counsel. We will then consider the interim relief even when the matter is pending in the High Court, said the Bench which also comprised Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia.
On August 16, the Supreme Court agreed to list the matter for hearing the bail plea of social activist Teesta Setalvad and took note of the submissions of lawyer Aparna Bhat, appearing for the activist.
The Gujarat High Court, on August 3, issued a notice to the state government on the bail plea of Setalvad and fixed the plea for hearing on September 19. Prior to this, a sessions court at Ahmedabad, on July 30, had rejected the bail applications of Setalvad and former Director General of Police R B Sreekumar in the case, saying that if they were released, it will send a message to wrongdoers that a person can level allegations with impunity and get away with it.
Setalvad and former Director General of Police (DGP) RB Sreekumar, both arrested in June, are accused of fabricating evidence to frame “innocent people” in the post-Godhra riots cases. They are lodged in the Sabarmati central jail. Sreekumar has also moved the high court for bail.
Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, the third accused in the case, has not applied for bail. Bhatt was already in jail for another criminal matter when he was arrested in this case. The accused apparently aimed to “destabilize” the Gujarat government and defame the state for their ulterior motives, it said while denying them relief.
They were arrested by the Ahmedabad city crime branch in June after an FIR was registered against them under Indian Penal Code sections 468 (forgery for cheating) and 194 (fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offences). The Mumbai-based Setalvad and Sreekumar were arrested within a couple of days after the Supreme Court on June 24 dismissed a petition filed by Zakia Jafri, the wife of former Congress MP Ehsaan Jafri who was killed in Ahmedabad during the riots, triggered by the torching of a coach of Sabarmati Express by a mob near Godhra station on February 27, 2002, in which as many as 59 passengers were charred to death
