Human rights defender Teesta Setalvad has approached the Supreme Court seeking bail in the case registered by Gujarat ATS alleging falsification of records to implicate high state functionaries including then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in the Gujarat genocide conspiracy case.
The petition was mentioned by Advocate Aparna Bhat Tuesday morning before a bench led by the Chief Justice of India for urgent listing, Live Law reported The CJI agreed to list the matter before a bench led by Justice Uday Umesh Lalit on 22 August.
Setalvad has moved the top court against a Gujarat High Court order denying her interim bail in the case.
On July 30 this year, an Ahmedabad sessions court refused to grant Setalvad bail, noting that she and other accused appeared to have aimed to “destabilise” the Gujarat government and defame the State for ulterior motives. She had then moved the Gujarat High Court for bail which issued notice in the matter but did not grant any interim relief.
Setalvad was arrested by the anti-terrorism wing of the Gujarat police on 26 June from her home in Mumbai, a day after the Supreme Court dismissed the petition filed by Zakia Jafri challenging the SIT’s clean chit to high-ranking State functionaries and the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2002 Muslim genocide.
Rights groups have been demanding the release of Setalvad, who campaigned to get justice for the 2002 Gujarat Muslim genocide victims.
