Teesta walks out of Sabarmati jail after SC grants bail
Activist Teesta Setalvad was released from Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad on Saturday at around 8 pm following the Supreme Court’s (SC) grant of interim bail on September 2.
While SC order had directed that Setalvad be produced before the appropriate Ahmedabad court for the release order by 3 pm on September 3, Setalvad was produced at around 5 pm, said a lawyer associated with the case.
Her release comes nearly two months and ten days after her arrest.
Setalvad was arrested by the Gujarat police on June 25 on the basis of an FIR by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) allegedly on charges of conspiring to falsely implicate innocent persons in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riot.
She was kept in police remand for seven days and was sent to judicial custody on July 2.
Her arrest, along with that of co-accused in the case, former IPS RB Sreekumar had come just a day after the Supreme Court on June 24 had dismissed a plea by Zakia Jafri, wife of slain Congress MP Ahsan Jafri, against the Special Investigation Team clean chit to then Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others over allegations of conspiracy in the riots.
The SC in its verdict had observed that proceedings were pursued to “keep the pot boiling, obviously, for ulterior design” and said “all those involved in such abuse of process, need to be in the dock and proceed in accordance with law.”
Setalvad along with Sreekumar, had moved the Ahmedabad sessions court on July 5 seeking bail, which was subsequently rejected on July 30. On August 1, Setalvad had moved the Gujarat High Court (HC) seeking bail. Gujarat HC had admitted the bail plea on August 3 while keeping the next date of hearing for September 19, following which Setalvad moved SC seeking bail.
