Gujarat Riots Case: SC grants interim relief to Teesta after Gujarat HC rejects bail petition

Earlier in the day, while rejecting Setalvad’s plea, the Gujarat HC observed that granting her bail would “deepen and widen communal polarisation” at a time when “we are heading towards progress of the country with an effort to strengthen communal harmony and brotherhood”.

The court of Justice Nirzar Desai said Setalvad had filed “false affidavits” to “unsettle a democratically elected government”, bring “disrepute” to the image of the then chief minister Narendra Modi and “thereby send him to jail and compel him to resign”. The HC directed Setalvad to “surrender immediately”, rejecting her lawyer’s request to stay the operation of the verdict for 30 days.

Expressing surprise at the HC’s order, Justice Gavai said: “What is the urgency in taking her into custody? Will the skies fall if interim protection is granted for some days? What is the alarming urgency?”

The SC bench said that “in ordinary circumstances”, it would not have considered the request for a stay. “However, it is to be noted that after the FIR was registered against the petitioner on 25.06.2022 and the petitioner was arrested, this court, considering the application for grant of interim bail, had granted the same on certain conditions, vide order dated 02.09.2022.”

“One of the factors that weighed with this court was that the petitioner was a lady and as such entitled to special protection under Section 437 CrPC… We find that, taking into consideration this fact, the learned single judge ought to have granted at least some protection so that the petitioner has sufficient time to challenge the order… before this court,” it said.

“Without considering anything on merits of the matter, finding that the learned single judge was not correct in (not) granting even some protection, we grant stay of the impugned order passed by the high court for a period of one week from today,” the SC said.

Appearing for Setalvad, Senior Advocate C U Singh said she had not violated any bail conditions ever. To a query from the bench on whether trial had started, Singh said the charges were yet to be framed. He said only two of the seven sections against her were non-bailable.

Singh said the HC rejected the plea to extend the interim protection, but no grounds were given for the rejection.

Opposing Setalvad’s plea for interim relief, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Gujarat police, said the court should consider her case like that of any common criminal. Justice Gavai responded that even common criminals are entitled to interim relief.

The SG said there is more to the matter than meets the eye and added that the appellant was abusing every forum.

The bench asked if Setalvad cannot be given relief for one more week. The SG said it was not a question of an individual, but of rule of law.

Mehta submitted that the SIT constituted by the SC to probe the riots cases received pre-typed and pre-signed statements. Witnesses said they were given to them by Setalvad and they don’t know its contents, he said.

He said the SC judgment in the Zakia Jafri matter had elaborated on the role of the appellant, whose actions had maligned the country globally.

Justice Gavai repeated his question on “whether the heavens will fall in eight days.” The bench said it would stay the HC order, and post the matter for hearing before a regular bench.

The SG urged the court to instead extend the time for surrender, but the court directed a stay. It also asked the Registrar (Judicial) to obtain orders from the CJI and place the matter before an appropriate bench for considering the Special Leave Petition.

Earlier in the day, in its 127-page verdict, the HC said: “Prima facie, this court is of the view that today, if the applicant… is enlarged on bail, that will deepen and widen the communal polarisation… when we are heading towards progress of the country with efforts to strengthen communal harmony and brotherhood… Prima facie, it seems that though the present applicant has formed an NGO in the name of Citizens for Justice and Peace, she has never worked in the direction of securing justice and peace.”

“In fact, she has even dared to file false affidavits before the highest forum of the country i.e. the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Her work was mainly in the direction to polarise the people of a particular community which would disturb the peace… and all this was done by provoking the people and even misleading the various forums, including the Hon’ble SC, by filing false and fabricated affidavits, and even by writing letters to UNHRC for which she was warned by the Hon’ble SC,” it said.

Saying that Setalvad has a “past track record” of tampering with evidence, it said that granting her bail would send the wrong signal that everything is so lenient in a democratic country that even if a person goes to the extent of making efforts to unseat the establishment and “disrepute the image of the then chief minister” (Narendra Modi) to see that he is sent to jail, the person can be released on bail, the court said.

“That will encourage others to act in similar manner… tomorrow, a situation may arise that some outside force may utilise and convince a person to make efforts in similar line, causing danger to nation or to a particular state, by adopting the same modalities,” it said.

Setalvad was arrested by the Gujarat police on June 25, 2022 on an FIR filed by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) for allegedly conspiring to falsely implicate innocent persons in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots. She was kept in police remand for seven days and was sent to judicial custody on July 2, 2022. Setalvad was granted interim bail by the SC on September 2, 2022.

Her arrest, along with that of co-accused in the case, former IPS officer R B Sreekumar, came just a day after the SC, on June 24, dismissed a plea filed by Zakia Jafri, wife of slain Congress MP Ahsan Jafri, against the SIT’s clean chit to Modi and others over allegations of conspiracy in the riots.

Relying on confessional statements made by Raiskhan Pathan, who was fired as field coordinator from Setalvad’s NGO in 2008, and one Narendra Brahmbhatt, who had admittedly handed Rs 30 lakh to Setalvad, allegedly on instructions from late Congress leader Ahmed Patel, the HC said that Setalvad “collected huge funds from Islamic countries” and was “ear-poisoning the victims against the government” at the relief camps post-riots. It said she ensured the victims filed false affidavits which were “far from the truth”, with the objective to fulfill the “personal/ political agenda” of Setalvad and Ahmed Patel.

“If any leniency is shown towards (Setalvad)… there is strong possibility that in future also, we may see many more persons coming out openly to help any entity in fulfilling their agenda in an illegal and unlawful manner and show readiness to do anything by playing with the sentiments of the community just to ensure that (a) particular political party gets sufficient swing in their favour, by changing the mindset of people by exploiting their religious and communal feelings and provoking them as persons who are oppressed and are not given justice by the establishment,” said Justice Desai.