Guj HC judge recuses himself from hearing regular bail plea of Teesta Setalvad

Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court judge Justice Samir Dave on Tuesday recused himself from hearing the regular bail plea of activist Teesta Setalvad in connection with a case of the alleged fabrication of evidence to frame innocent people concerning the 2002 Gujarat riots.

When the matter came up for hearing before Justice Samir Dave, he said “not before me,” but didn’t assign any reason.

Setalvad is out on interim bail granted to her by the Supreme Court on September 2.

The Ahmedabad crime branch had registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Setalvad, former DGP RB Sreekumar and ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging the clean chit given by the SIT to then chief minister Narendra Modi and others in 2002 post-Godhra riots cases.

Setalvad and co-accused Sreekumar were taken into custody on July 25. Their bail pleas were rejected by the sessions court on July 30, after which they approached the High Court. Meanwhile, Setalvad secured interim bail from the top court. Later, the HC let out Sreekumar on interim bail.

A day before, another bench of the high court had extended by ten days the interim bail of Sreekumar pending the disposal of his regular bail plea by the sessions court.

Setalvad and the two ex-IPS officers were booked under Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to forgery, giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction of a capital offence, criminal conspiracy, etc.