Supreme Court Grants Bail To Teesta Setalvad; Calls Gujarat HC Observations 'Perverse', 'Contradictory'

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted regular bail to human rights activist Teesta Setalvad in the Gujarat police case over alleged fabrication of evidence in the 2002 riots cases.A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai, AS Bopanna and Dipankar Datta quashed the Gujarat High Court's order which denied her regular bail after opining that the High Court's observations were "perverse" and "contradictory".Regarding the contradictory approach taken by the High Court, the bench observed as follows :"We are at pains to say that the order passed by the learned judge makes an interesting reading. On one hand, the learned judge has spent pages to observe as to how it is not necessary rather nor permissible at the stage of bail to consider whether a prima facie case is made out or not. Learned judge interestingly observed that since the petitioner has neither challenged the FIR or chargesheet in proceedings under Section 482 CrPC or Articles 226 or 32 of the Constitution, it is not permissible for her to say that a prima facie case is not made out. The limited understanding of law we have is that the considerations which are required to be taken into consideration for grant of bail are (1)prima facie case, (2) the possibility of the accused tampering the evidence or influencing the witness, (3) fleeing away from the justice. The other considerations are gravity and seriousness of the offence.If the observation of the learned judge are to be accepted, no application for bail can be accepted unless the accused files an application for quashing the proceedings...To say the least, the findings are totally perverse. On the other hand, the learned judge goes on to discuss the statements of some witnesses and finds that prima facie case is made out. The findings are totally contradictory, to say the least".The Court held that custodial interrogation of the petitioner is not necessary since chargesheet in the case has already been filed. The Court quashed the Gujarat High Court's order and granted her bail subject to the condition that she should not attempt to influence or intimidate the witnesses.It was on July 1 that the Gujarat High Court rejected her bail application and directed her to surrender immediately. On the same day itself, the Supreme Court stayed the order in a special 9 PM sitting on Saturday, July 1.Arguments of Kapil Sibal on behalf of TeestaTeesta was represented by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, CU Singh, Mihir Desai and Advocate Aparna Bhat.Sibal started by saying that the judgment of the Supreme Court in Zakia Jafri vs State of Gujarat did not enter any finding against Teesta Setalvad. He pointed out that the SIT did not make any arguments against Teesta too. The argument that Teesta had tutored witnesses was made by Solicitor General on behalf of the State of Gujarat. On June 25, 2022, the very next day of Zakia Jafri judgment, the FIR was registered. Sibal wondered on what investigation the FIR was registered. "Somebody should say that the documents were fabricated. They record the statements after registering the FIR", he stated."What was the haste that you arrest her on the next day of the judgment based on the statement of the Solicitor General?", he asked.He then apprised the bench that Teesta was given interim bail by the Supreme Court on September 2, 2022 and the chargesheet was filed on September 20. He stated that Setalvad was not interrogated in judicial custody and the investigation is now complete. She has not violated any bail condition too. Out of the offences invoked, only Sections 468 and 194 IPC are non-bailable.Sibal said that the allegation is that false affidavits were filed. "If that is the case, why only Setalvad is singled out and the persons who actually filed the affidavits are left out?", he asked."What happened is that a trial was going on in the Best Bakery case. Then Zahira Sheikh came to Teesta Setalvad and said they forced me to sign an affidavit. Teesta Setalvad files the complaint to the Human Rights Commission. The National Human Rights Commission then filed a petition in the Supreme Court saying transfer all cases out of Gujarat. The affidavits were given to us by the victims", he said."Barring one particular case, there are convictions in all cases. And not on basis of my affidavit but on eyewitness accounts. They have also stood by these affidavits. For 20 years, there has been no complaint", Sibal added.He highlighted that the Gujarat High Court has adopted a "strange reasoning" that the offences alleged are to be presumed to be admitted since the petitioner did not institute any proceedings to quash the chargesheet."What law is this? What logic is this? I am deemed to have admitted because I did not challenge in S 482 proceedings?It is turning the entire jurisprudence on its head", he exclaimed."The issue relates to affidavits filed in Courts; but none of those persons who have filed the affidavits have come forward to say that they are fabricated in the last...

Supreme Court Grants Bail To Teesta Setalvad; Calls Gujarat HC Observations 'Perverse', 'Contradictory'

Awstika Das

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