Teesta Setalvad Moves Supreme Court Seeking Bail; Bench To Hear Case on 22 Aug

A bench led by Justice UU Lalit has agreed to list the petition for hearing on 22 August.

A sessions court in Ahmedabad on Saturday, 30 July, denied bail to activist journalist Teesta Setalvad and former Director General of Police (DGP) RB Sreekumar in a case of allegedly fabricating evidence related to the 2002 riots in the state.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

Activist journalist Teesta Setalvad on Tuesday, 16 August, approached the Supreme Court against the Gujarat High Court's refusal to grant her interim bail in the case registered by Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) alleging falsification of records.

The petition was mentioned by Advocate Aparna Bhat before a bench led by Justice UU Lalit for urgent listing, Live Law reported.

Justice Lalit has agreed to list the petition for hearing on 22 August.

This comes after a sessions court in Ahmedabad, on 30 July, denied bail to Setalvad and former Director General of Police (DGP) RB Sreekumar in the case of alleged fabrication of evidence related to the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Setalvad and Sreekumar were arrested following the Supreme Court's dismissal of the plea filed by slain former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri's wife Zakia Jafri, which challenged the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe in the Gujarat riots case.

In doing so, the apex court had upheld the clean chit given by the SIT to then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

In its judgment, the court read that Setalvad, a co-petitioner in the case, had exploited the emotions of Zakia Jafri.

Setalvad was detained hours after Home Minister Amit Shah said in an interview on 25 June that her NGO had spread "baseless" information regarding the 2002 Gujarat riots.