The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to controversial activist Teesta Setalvad, who is accused of fabricating evidence, tutoring witnesses, and defaming the Gujarat government in matters related to the Gujarat Riots 2002.
The bail was granted by a special 3-judge bench of Justices BR Gavai, AS Bopanna, and Dipankar Datta which set aside the Gujarat HC order. On 1st July, the Gujarat High Court rejected the regular bail application of activist Teesta Setalvad and ordered her to “surrender immediately.”
The apex court reportedly called the HC order “perverse to say the least”. “If observation of judge is taken then no bail plea can be decided pre-trial unless the chargesheet etc is challenged under 226 or 32. To say the least, the High Court finding is perverse,” the SC said setting aside the HC order.
The bench noted that HC had denied bail to Setalvad on the grounds that she had not challenged the FIR and chargesheet and hence, as per the HC, could not claim that a prima facie case was not made out. The Court reportedly said, “We do not think custodial interrogation is necessary. She shall not make any attempt to influence witnesses.”
The court ordered Setalvad not to influence any witnesses and that if she does so, allowed the prosecution to directly move SC seeking cancellation of her bail. The bench directed for her passport to be in the custody of the trial court.
On 1st July, a two-judge bench of the SC heard Setalvad’s plea challenging the HC order delivered earlier. The vacation bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Prashant Kumar Mishra failed to reach a unanimous decision and interim relief was denied to Teesta Setalvad, and the matter was referred to the CJI to form a larger bench on the issue.
Accordingly, the CJI formed a special bench of Justices BR Gavai, AS Bopanna and Dipankar Datta to hear the interim bail case of Teesta Setalvad. And in a dramatic late-night hearing, the bench granted interim bail to controversial activist Teesta Setalvad.
CJI’s special intervention
It had come to light that when Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud was informed about the two-judge bench decision to forward the matter to a larger bench as they could not come to a unanimous decision on extending bail granted to Setalvad, he was attending a Bharatnatyam event. As per reports, CJI left the hall multiple times to ensure the formation of a three-judge bench to hear the matter urgently.
CJI was reportedly at the Chinmay Mission to attend the Bharatnatyam dance performance of Suvarna Vishvanathan, daughter of Supreme Court justice KV Vishvanathan. Most of the people linked to the hearing were present at the event, including Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.