“Who is this Teesta Setalvad? Is she a spokesperson of these persons or petitioners? If she is representing these persons (Godhra accused) we do not want to hear them,” said the Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, expressing his outrage, while hearing the bail pleas of 84 POTA accused in the Godhra train burning case.
The provocation was an article, Shame, Shame: A travesty of Justice, written by journalist-turned-human rights activist Teesta Setalvad in a Malayalam publication about the apex court’s handling of the bail applications of the accused in the Godhra train burning case.

The 46-year old Setalvad, whose zeal saw the transfer of the Best Bakery case outside Gujarat and life sentence for murderers, explicitly told to Parag Rabade of Deccan Herald that she would not comment on the Chief Justice’s remarks. At the same time, she stood by her words. Excerpts

Deccan Herald (DH): Why sympathise with the Godhra accused, whose action sparked off such a devastating reaction in Gujarat ?
Teesta Setalvad (TS): Sixty to seventy per cent Godhra accused are innocent; they were not involved in burning the train and were wrongly picked up during the combing operations. The witnesses’ statements were extracted after the arrests. The Godhra train burning now stands deconstructed by the Gujarat government’s own forensic laboratory. It says the burning originated in the train. There are questions on whether fire was ignited from outside. The question is are we going to look at the evidence in a rational way or not.

DH: What is the current status of trials and investigations in Gujarat ?
TS: As of now, 15 trials are pending in the Supreme Court (SC). There were convictions in three cases, like Best Bakery case. But 2000 cases which the SC ordered to be reopened, the Gujarat government has reduced the investigaton into a complete farce.

DH: The Modi government claims it has put the state on development path.
TS: You had 2500 people massacred, 400 women gangraped several times, by mobs which are still free in Gujarat. Is this the kind of model which we want to follow in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh? You are responsible for orchestrating it, subverting the evidence and then you say I am on the road to development, so don’t talk about it.

DH: There have been at least some convictions in the BJP-ruled Gujarat. What about the Congress-ruled Maharashtra where there have been no convictions for 1992-93 Mumbai riots ?
TS: The Maharashtra government has set up a committee to look into the matter. That committe has been reduced to a complete farce. There are 35 to 40 serious cases that will be listed and an elaborate exercise was made out. They have completely bypassed those cases and put up some 16 cases that were completely innocuous. They also promised that the speeches of Bal Thackeray would be re-examined. But it is the same story. The judiciary is the only hope. The Congress and the BJP have not functioned very differently.

DH: What is the difference between the BJP and the Congress then?
TS: The difference lies in the perpetration. In Bombay, it was Shiv Sena which was involved, in Gujarat, it was top to down, BJP, VHP, Bajrang Dal. In Gujarat they are protecting themselves. In Maharashtra, Congress-NCP  did not commit crimes themselves, but have done the job of protecting the perpetrators. Why does that happen? It is 1984, where the Congress was involved in anti-Sikh violence, if powerful people who had been indicted had been tried, then the 1992-93 would not have happened. The impunity cuts across political class. It is very dangerous to democracy.

DH: You are accused of being virulently anti-Hindu and not aggressive enough when it comes to Muslim fundamentalism.
TS: It is not anti-Hindu but anti-Hindutva. Because, I am born Hindu, I am proud to be a Hindu to the extent that Hinduism allows manifest relationship with different ideas; it is much more Catholic in its attitude. We are against politicisation of Hinduism, politicisation of faith. Those who are doing it want to bring majoritarianism, which means majority of caste Hindus, not of Dalits or Muslims.

Gandhi said, in a true democracy the voice of majority has no place, it is voice of conscience. The voice of conscience will always be a lonely voice.

At the same time we cannot ignore minority communalism. We took a stand on Islamisation of Kashmir movement, on links of Kerala Muslim outfits with jihadi groups. We filed a case to derecognise five MIM MLAs, who attacked Nasreen, from the Andhra Pradesh assembly.

DH: Modi claims there have been no terror attacks and riots since 2002. Do you appreciate that?
TS: It’s a wrong story. Between 2003 and 2007 February, there had been 30 encounter killings in the name of exposing terror threats to Advani and Modi.

The problem is we are not looking at attacks at Malegaon. The conspiracy behind Nanded blasts is well-documented; the whole network from Pune to Parbhani to Ahmednager was exposed. Seven Hindus died while making bombs and then there is pressure to quash investigation. The intelligence must acknowldge the Hindu (terrorism) angle. The RSS and hardline Hindu groups are hand in glove with jihadi terrorists to spread terror in India. There is enough evidence to show they are involved.

DH: Did you ever interact with Modi?
TS: I met him only once, that too in burqa. But otherwise, why should I meet him? He is the single architect of genocide. There should be an FIR, investigation against Modi and his ministers.