Godhra court grants anticipatory bail to Setalvad

Godhra(Guj), Feb 15 (PTI) A fast track court heretoday granted anticipatory bail to social activists TeestaSetalvad in connection with exhumation of bodies of 2002 riotvictims four years after they were buried.

Fast track judge V D Parmar granted anticipatory bailto Setalvad on grounds of parity as other accused in the casehave been granted bail.

Setalvad runs a NGO called Citizen for Justice andPeace (CJP) and has taken up the cause of riot victims.

According to the details of the case, in 2002 thedistrict administration had buried about 28 unidentifiedbodies of riot victims from Pandarwada and surroundingvillages of Khanpur taluka of Panchmahal district at agraveyard near river Panam there.

After over four years, Rais Khan, who was thenassociated with CJP, and 12 others exhumed these bodieswithout the permission of the government.

Following this, a criminal complaint was registeredagainst Khan and others. But they obtained a stay on furtherinvestigation in the case.

The stay on investigation was lifted by the High Courtin November last year, after which Khan and his three aideswere arrested on December 14.

Khan, who is no more associated with Setalvad, gavea statement under section 164 of CrPC to the police sayingthat they had exhumed bodies at the behest of Setalvad.

After that Setalvad filed an anticipatory bail plea inGodhra court. .