Supreme Court extends interim protection to Teesta Setalvad

The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended interim protection to activist Teesta Setalvad until further orders in an FIR lodged against her and others for alleged fabrication of evidences in 2002 Gujarat riots cases.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai, A S Bopanna and Dipankar Datta issued notice to the Gujarat government on her petition against the High Court's order of July 1 denying her bail.

The court fixed July 19 as the date of final hearing, while allowing the petitioner and the state government to file their affidavit and rejoinder by July 15.

Also read | Godhra riots: Gujarat police opposes Teesta Setalvad's discharge application

"We will give one hour each to both the sides and finish off the hearing in a day," the bench said.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Setalvad, and Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing on behalf of the state government, agreed to the court's proposal.

Within hours of the HC's order on July 1, the top court had granted Setalvad interim protection for a week, while staying the Gujarat High Court's order, which asked her to surrender immediately.

The three-judge special bench was set up after two judges in the Supreme Court differed on granting her protection.

The FIR in the case was filed by the Gujarat police against Setalvad and others, namely former senior police officers R B Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt, on the basis of the Supreme Court's judgement in the case of 'Zakia Ahsan Zafri and others Vs State of Gujarat', passed on June 24, 2022.

The top court had on September 2, 2022 granted her interim bail, while directing her to approach the High Court for regular bail.