The Supreme Court on Saturday referred the bail plea of Mumbai-based activist Teesta Setalvad to a larger bench consisting of three judges as the vacation bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Prashant Kumar Mishra could not reach a unanimous decision. The case has now been referred to a larger bench. However, the two-judge bench acknowledged that Setalvad should have been given sufficient time by the Gujarat High Court to surrender in relation to the 2002 Gujarat riots case.
The SC observed that the Gujarat High Court should have granted some time to Teesta Setalvad to surrender in a case related to the alleged fabrication of evidence during the 2002 Gujarat riots. However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Gujarat government, opposed the idea of granting Setalvad additional time to surrender, Bar and Bench reported.
The apex court said: "On September 22 Supreme Court passed an order granting interim bail to her, she is on bail for nine months. We can take the matter on Monday or Tuesday, what’s going to happen in 72 hours?" ANI reported.
Consequently, the bench decided to refer the matter to Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud for its consideration by a larger bench. Setalvad petitioned the Supreme Court after the Gujarat High Court denied her regular bail plea earlier today.
READ | Gujarat Riots: Activist Teesta Setalvad's Bail Plea Rejected, High Court Asks Her To Surrender
Setalvad, former Gujarat Director General of Police R B Sreekumar, and ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt were arrested in June last year in connection with an Ahmedabad crime branch police case. The case alleged evidence fabrication in order to falsely implicate innocent people in post-Godhra riots cases.
The three accused were apprehended after an FIR was filed against them under Indian Penal Code sections 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 194 (fabricating false evidence with the intent to obtain a conviction for a capital offence).
Last month, a trial court denied Sreekumar's plea for discharge in the case. Sreekumar has also been granted interim bail in the case by the Gujarat High Court. Bhatt, the case's third accused, has not applied for bail. When Bhatt was arrested in this case, he was already in jail for another case.
The case against Setalvad and the two others was filed following the Supreme Court's decision in the Zakia Jafri case on June 24. The apex court dismissed a petition filed by Zakia Jafri, whose husband, former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, was killed during the riots, stating that "it appears to us that a concerted effort of the disgruntled officials of the State of Gujarat along with others was to create sensation by making revelations which were false to their own knowledge".
The Supreme Court granted Setalvad interim bail on September 2, 2022.