Gujarat High Court rejects activist Teesta Setalvad’s request for bail, ordering her to “Surrender Immediately”

Teesta Setalvad, a social activist, was ordered to surrender immediately by the Gujarat High Court on Saturday after it denied her request for bail. Setalvad is charged with manipulating data related to the riots in Gujarat in 2002.

The Supreme Court had granted the petitioner temporary release, therefore the court issued an order directing her to surrender right away.

A motion for a temporary stay on the ruling allowing Setalvad to appeal to the Supreme Court was denied by a single bench of Justice Nirzar S. Desai. Senior attorney Mihir Thakore asked the court to put the decision on hold for 30 days, but Justice Desai rejected his motion.

Due to an interim bail that was granted by the Supreme Court in September 2022, Setalvad was shielded from arrest.

Setalvad and co-accused former director general of police R B Sreekumar were detained by Gujarat police in June 2022 as a result of a FIR filed by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB). She was charged with plotting to create fake evidence and falsely accuse innocent persons in relation to the riots in Gujarat in 2002.

The Indian Penal Code sections 468, 471 (forgery), 194 (giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction of capital offence), 211 (institute criminal proceedings to cause injury), 218 (public servant framing incorrect record or writing with intent to save a person from punishment or property from forfeiture), and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) were then invoked against Setalvad and the co-accused.