Supreme Court allows Teesta Setalvad to travel to Amsterdam for film festival

The apex court had in July, 2023, granted her regular bail in a case of alleged fabrication of documents to frame innocent people in the 2002 post-Godhra riot cases.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday permitted activist Teesta Setalvad to travel between November 14 and November 24 to attend the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam.

Setalvad had received an invitation from the organisers to attend the festival in her capacity as producer of the documentary film Cycle Mahesh.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan allowed the plea filed by Setalvad and directed her to file an undertaking before it that she would return to India as scheduled and face trial.

"The applicant is, therefore, permitted to travel to Amsterdam, Netherlands, for a period of 11 days from November 14, 2024 to November 24, 2024. The applicant’s passport be returned to her so that she can travel abroad," the bench held.

The top court ordered Setalvad to furnish a solvent surety or a cash surety or a surety in the nature of fixed deposit receipt in the sum of Rs 10 lakh to the satisfaction of the sessions court, Bhadra, Ahmedabad.

"On her return from Amsterdam, Netherlands, the applicant shall re-surrender her passport to the trial judge," the bench said.

The apex court had in July, 2023, granted her regular bail in an alleged case of fabrication of documents to frame innocent people in the 2002 post-Godhra riots cases.

During the hearing on Tuesday, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Setalvad, said she had filed an application seeking to travel abroad as the apex court had in July, 2023, directed for her passport to be in the custody of the sessions court.

"My documentary has been awarded in Amsterdam. I (Setalvad) am seeking your lordships permission to go to Amsterdam from November 14 to November 24," he informed the bench.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Gujarat government, did not object to the plea.

Mehta said though the state government had no objection to Setalvad travelling abroad, it was necessary to impose certain conditions to ensure she faced the trial upon her return.

The top court had on August 20 allowed Setalvad to travel to Malaysia for a conference while directing for her passport to be returned to her.

On July 19, 2023, the apex court quashed the July 1 order of the Gujarat High Court, which had denied bail to Setalvad in the case.

Setalvad's passport, which she had already surrendered, was directed to remain in the custody of the sessions court, and she was ordered not to influence witnesses.

The top court had noted the submissions of Setalvad's counsel that the FIR against her was lodged following a judgment by the apex court on June 24, 2022 in the case of Zakia Jafri, who alleged a larger conspiracy behind the 2002 communal riots and challenged the high court's October 5, 2017 order rejecting her petition against the finding of the Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team.

Jafri is the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was among those killed at the Gulberg Housing Society during the violence.

Setalvad was arrested a day after the apex court's judgment in the Zakia Jafri case.

The FIR against Setalvad and two others -- former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt and former DGP R B Sreekumar -- followed the apex court's observation that some people kept "the pot boiling" of the case "for ulterior design" and "all those involved in such abuse of process, need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with the law".