In a major relief, the Supreme Court of India granted interim bail to activist Teesta Setalvad, hours after her bail application was canceled by the Gujarat High Court on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, the Gujarat High Court had rejected Setalvad’s regular bail plea ordering her to surrender with immediate effect.
On the same evening, the Supreme Court held a special sitting to hear her plea for an extension of interim bail.
However, the judges could not come to a common decision and urged the Chief Justice of India to assign the plea to a larger bench as the two judges were unable to agree on a decision.
“After having heard this Special Leave Petition for some time, we are unable to agree while deciding the prayer for interim relief. Therefore, it will be appropriate if, under the orders of the Chief Justice of India, this petition is placed before the appropriate larger Bench. The Registrar (Judicial) is directed to place this order immediately before the Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India,” the bench had said.
Following this, a three-bench judge heard her plea on the same day at 9:15 pm and granted her interim bail. The apex court also stayed the high court’s order for a week.
Setalvad was arrested by the Gujarat police on June 25, 2022, along with former Gujarat Director General of Police R B Sreekumar and ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt for allegedly conspiring and fabricating evidence in relation to the 2002 Gujarat riots case. After being in police remand for a week, she was sent to judicial custody on July 2.
An Ahmedabad sessions court had on July 30, 2022, rejected the bail applications of Setalvad and Sreekumar in the case, saying their release will send a message to wrongdoers that a person can level allegations with impunity and get away with it.
The High Court had on August 3, 2022, issued a notice to the state government on the bail plea of Setalvad and fixed the matter for hearing on September 19.
Meanwhile, she moved the Supreme Court (SC) for interim bail after the high court refused to consider her plea.
The apex court, on September 2 last year, granted her interim bail and asked her to surrender her passport with the trial court till the time the Gujarat High Court heard her regular bail plea. She received bail on September 3.
(With inputs from agencies)
