Ahmedabad: Activist Teesta Setalvad walked out of a prison here on Saturday, a day after the Supreme Court granted her interim bail in a case of allegedly fabricating evidence related to the 2002 Gujarat riots. She had been lodged in the Sabarmati Central Jail here since her arrest on June 26.
As per the SC order, she was produced before sessions judge V A Rana for bail formalities. "The sessions court imposed two conditions over and above the conditions imposed by the apex court. The sessions court asked the accused to furnish a personal bond of Rs 25,000 and not to leave India without its prior permission," special public prosecutor Amit Patel said.
The Supreme Court Friday granted interim bail to activist Teesta Setalvad, arrested on June 25 for allegedly fabricating evidence to frame "innocent people" in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases, saying the high court ought to have considered releasing her on interim bail during the pendency her case.
A day after taking a serious view of delayed listing of Setalvad's regular bail plea in the Gujarat High Court, a bench headed by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit considered facts such as the woman petitioner having been in jail for over two months and subjected to custodial interrogation for seven days while ordering her release till the Gujarat High Court decides the regular bail petition.
The bench, which also comprised justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia, asked Setalvad to surrender her passport to the trial court. The top court also asked her to cooperate with the probe agency in the investigation of the case of alleged fabrication of evidence to frame people in riots cases.
We need not go into the rival contentions advanced by the counsel on behalf of the parties touching upon merits of the matter. For the present purposes, in our considered view, following aspects of the matter which emerge on the record are of some importance.
"A. the appellant, a lady, has been in custody since June 25, 2022. B. The offences alleged against her pertained to the year 2002 and going by the assertions, at best the concerned documents sought to be presented till the year 2012. C. The investigating machinery has had the advantage of custodial interrogation for a period of seven days thereafter the judicial custody was ordered by the concerned court, it said in the order. (with Agency inputs)
