Earlier this week, the rights activist, Teesta Setalvad, filed a petition in the High Court seeking the dismissal of a complaint against her. The complaint accused her of fabricating evidence related to the Godhra riots to implicate then-Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
However, Justice Samir Dave of the Gujarat High Court recused himself from hearing the petition submitted by Teesta Setalvad to dismiss the case filed against her by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for alleged evidence fabrication in connection with the 2002 Godhra riots.
The plea was scheduled as item number 96 on the daily hearing board before Justice Dave. Teesta Setalvad’s attorney mentioned the plea, but Justice Dave decided to recuse himself, stating, “Not before me. Present it to the Chief Justice for assignment to a different bench.”
Teesta Setalvad was arrested on June 25, 2022, a day after the Supreme Court’s three-judge bench made negative remarks about her while dismissing the petition of Zakia Jafri, the widow of Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was killed during the 2002 Gujarat Riots. She was accused of conspiring and falsifying evidence to implicate higher-ranking officials of the then-Gujarat government in the 2002 riots.
Subsequently, the Supreme Court granted her interim parole in the case in September 2022, with instructions to apply for regular parole at the Gujarat High Court. However, a single-judge bench of Justice Nirzar Desai at the Gujarat High Court denied her parole on July 1, citing concerns that granting her bail might exacerbate communal tensions in the state.
In response, she approached the Supreme Court again for temporary parole. On July 19, the Supreme Court granted her regular parole, overturning the Gujarat High Court’s decision to deny her bail, deeming it ‘perverse.’
The following day, an Ahmedabad sessions court rejected her request for dismissal from the case.
