SC grants Teesta Setalvad interim bail

New Delhi, Sep 02: The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to activist Teesta Setalvad in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots case. She had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the order of the sessions and High Court which had denied her bail.

Appearing for Setalvad, senior advocate, Kapil Sibal argued that the FIR filed against her was nothing but a recitation of the proceedings which ended with the Supreme Court's June 24 verdict.

Sibal said that his client has been in custody for over two months and is entitled to interim bail during the pendency of the substantive application pending in the High Court.

A sessions court at Ahmedabad, on July 30, rejected the bail applications of Setalvad and former Director General of Police R B Sreekumar in the case, saying that if they were released, it will send a message to wrongdoers that a person can level allegations with impunity and get away with it.

Setalvad and former Director General of Police (DGP) R B Sreekumar, both arrested in June, are accused of fabricating evidence to frame "innocent people" in the post-Godhra riots cases.

They are lodged in the Sabarmati central jail. Sreekumar has also moved the high court for bail, news agency PTI reported.

Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, the third accused in the case, has not applied for bail. Bhatt was already in jail for another criminal matter when he was arrested in this case.

They were arrested by the Ahmedabad city crime branch in June after a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against them under Indian Penal Code sections 468 (forgery for cheating) and 194 (fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offences).

Mumbai-based Setalvad and Sreekumar were arrested within a couple of days after the Supreme Court on June 24 dismissed a petition filed by Zakia Jafri.