In a case involving post-Godhra riots, the Supreme Court extends protection to activist Teesta Setalvad and notifies the Gujarat High Court

The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended the activist Teesta Setalvad’s temporary protection order till the subsequent hearing on July 19 in a case involving the 2002 post-Godhra riots. The activist was previously given protection from arrest at a special late-night session on July 1, and an order of the Gujarat High Court was postponed for a week. On Saturday morning, the High Court denied Setalvad’s request for ordinary bail and ordered her to “immediately surrender.”

The appeal filed by Setalvad was also the subject of a notice to the High Court from a three-judge panel consisting of Justices B R Gavai, A S Bopanna, and Dipankar Datta. According to an NDTV report, the supreme court also contested the single-judge bench’s decision to deny the bail order, arguing that “the petitioner was a lady and as such entitled to special protection under Section 437 CrPC.”

The single judge should have provided at least some protection, the three-judge bench said, so that the petitioner would have enough time to appeal the single judge’s ruling in front of this court.

Initial requests for time from the high court were made by Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, who said he needed the time to interpret the papers. According to PTI, the panel granted his motion and scheduled a hearing for July 19th.

A complaint was filed by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch in June of last year accusing Setalvad, former Gujarat police head R B Sreekumar, and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt of creating evidence to frame innocent individuals in the post-Gujarat riots.

On a bail that was granted by the Supreme Court in September of last year, Setalvad has been free since then.