India’s Supreme Court on Saturday (July 1) granted interim protection to social activist Teesta Setalvad in the 2002 Gujarat riots case. The interim protection of seven days was granted to Setalvad as her regular bail was rejected by the Gujarat High Court in a case of the alleged fabrication of evidence concerning the riots. According to a report by the news agency ANI, a three-bench judge of Justices BR Gavai, AS Bopanna, and Dipankar Datta stayed the order of the high court which asked Setalvad to surrender immediately.
“The single judge ought to have granted some time… We stay the order of the single bench for one week,” the Supreme Court bench said, adding the judge was wrong in not granting the interim protection.
The apex court’s bench took note of an earlier order passed in September last year which granted Setalvad interim bail.
The bench noted that while passing the September 2022 order, the earlier bench led by then Chief Justice of India (CJI) UU Lalit, took into account the fact that the petitioner was a woman who was entitled to special protection under Section 437 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, according to a report by LiveLaw on Saturday.
Taking this factor into account, the Supreme Court bench opined that the single bench of the Gujarat High Court ought to have granted some protection to Setalvad so that she could challenge the order before the apex court, the report said.
The report added that Setalvad’s lawyer CU Singh, highlighted during the hearing that a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court in September last year granted interim bail to her till the high court decided her bail application. Singh said that no case was made out that Setalvad breached any condition of the interim bail, but no reasons were given to explain the rejection.
The lawyer also said that the chargesheet in the case was filed in September 2022 and the trial was yet to begin.
Meanwhile, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Gujarat state, urged the Supreme Court to mete out the same treatment to the social activist as received by any other ordinary citizen, the LiveLaw report further said
The bench responded by expressing its disapproval over the alarming urgency exhibited by the high court in asking Setalvad to immediately surrender.
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