Rights activists question Gujarat’s ‘insistence’ on arresting Teesta Setalvad

Teesta Setalvad has been accused of embezzling a sum of Rs 1 crore that Sabrang Trust had allegedly raised.

Human rights activists have questioned Gujarat state’s insistence that activists Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand be arrested. The couple is accused of embezzling money collected in the name of Gujarat riot victims.

Senior lawyer and former additional solicitor general Indira Jaising contrasted the state’s insistence on the couple’s arrest with the fact that CBI is yet to file an appeal on the discharge of BJP president Amit Shah in the killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, Kauser Bi and Tulsiram Prajapati. She said: “This is not a lesson for Teesta, this a lesson for us. In a government with such absolute brute majority in the Lok Sabha, the only weapon of dissent left to us is our own voices. It is not a crime to hold views contrary to that of the government…”
She added: “Why has the CBI not appealed against the discharge of Amit Shah while the state is pressing for custodial interrogation in a case of embezzlement where all the evidence is documentary and cannot be tampered with”.

Former journalist and member of National Integration Council John Dayal alleged that the state’s full might was being used to persecute Setalvad and Anand, raising serious questions about policing and the criminal justice system.

Setalvad has been accused of embezzling a sum of Rs 1 crore that Sabrang Trust had allegedly raised. In her defence, Setalvad said the trust started collecting donations with the intention of buying flats and bungalows in the Gulberg Society at market rates but managed to raise only Rs 4.6 lakh, which was not sufficient. She maintained that only expenses pertaining to the activities of Sabrang Trust and her NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace were claimed and reimbursed by the two trusts.