New Delhi, July 3 (FN Representative) A specially constituted three-judge Supreme Court bench on Saturday stayed the order of the Gujarat High Court which declined bail to social activist, Teesta Setalvad and ordered her to surrender immediately in the case of alleged fabrication of evidence in relation to the 2002 Gujarat riots. The three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice BR Gavai, and also comprising Justices AS Bopana and Dipankar Datta passed the order. The Top Court said that in ordinary circumstances, it would not have considered the request for a special hearing. Granting interim protection to Teesta, whose regular bail was rejected by the Gujarat High Court in the case of alleged fabrication of evidence in relation to the 2002 Gujarat riots, the High Court had asked her to surrender immediately. While giving the judgement Supreme Court observed that “we are sorry to say the single judge was totally wrong in not granting interim protection even for one week.” When this court has granted interim bail, extending it by a week would have been ideal, observed Supreme Court. The Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, senior law officer appearing for the Gujarat government, said that it’s not an ordinary case; somebody takes institutions for a joy ride. The country and state were maligned for decades. She wrote to Geneva, the SG said. The Supreme Court asked the SG Mehta, “Her conduct may be reprehensible, but today we are considering whether a person should be stripped of liberty even for a day?”
The Court further observed that she was on bail for 10 months and asked about the urgency in taking her into custody. “Will the skies fall if interim protection granted… We are taken by surprise by what the High Court has done. What is the alarming urgency?” asked the Supreme Court. In the evening, the Supreme Court’s two-judge bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Prashant Kumar Mishra differed on granting interim protection to her and referred the matter to Chief Justice of India to constitute a larger bench.Granting Setalvad interim protection from arrest for seven days, the bench said, “The single judge ought to have granted some time… We stay the order of the single bench for a period of one week.” The Court said the High Court ought to have granted time to Teesta Setalvad to approach the Apex Court.The top court stayed the order for one week. It granted liberty to parties to file pleadings and documents and directed that the matter be referred to the CJI for listing before an appropriate bench. Senior Advocate, CU Singh appearing for Setalvad, at the outset showed the earlier order of September 2022 of the Apex Court granting interim relief to Setalvad, on the Bench asking for it. He submitted that on September 03, 2022, the Sessions Court had imposed certain conditions for bail on her, and she followed all of it religiously.
“I have never been called for a single interrogation and it is nobody’s case that I have in any way violated any condition of interim bail”, Singh submitted. The request for granting a stay was declined without reason, he submitted. Singh then mentioned the sequence of events that resulted in her arrest. The SG Mehta submitted that “I would urge your lordships to do what Court does when an ordinary citizen’s bail is rejected”. What is the urgency that the person should not be granted seven days’ time? Will the sky fall? We fail to understand the approach of the High Court. What is the alarming urgency that the High Court.., Justice Gavai asked. Mehta then submitted that it is a matter of the rule of law, not about a person who thinks that he is not an ordinary criminal. “The system and rule of law is at stake”, he submitted. The SG submitted that “the entire nation was maligned, the entire state was maligned, not only inside the Country but also outside the Country. It is not a question of one individual”.Justice Gavai then said that the question is only if the heavens are going to fall in one week.