Teesta Setalvad’s bail plea referred to chief justice after disagreement between two SC judges

After the Gujarat High Court on Saturday denied regular bail to Teesta Setalvad in a case of alleged forgery and fabrication of evidence related to the 2002 Gujarat riots, the activist approached the Supreme Court seeking temporary protection.

Justice Nirzar Desai of the High Court directed Setalvad, who was out on interim bail, to surrender immediately. He also rejected her lawyer’s request to stay the verdict for 30 days.

A special bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Prashant Kumar Mishra, however, differed on granting interim protection to Setalvad, Live Law reported. Justice Oka urged Chief Justice DY Chandrachud to assign the case to a larger bench.

Justice Oka orally observed that the High Court should have granted some breathing time to her to surrender.

Setalvad, along with former state Director General of Police RB Sreekumar and former Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt, has been accused of fabricating the evidence with the objective to destabilise the state government.

More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed in the 2002 riots. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat at the time.

Gujarat High Court order

In his Saturday’s order, the Gujarat High Court judge claimed that Setalvad had made attempts to unsettle a democratically elected government and tarnish the image of...

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