After Gujarat HC rejection, Teesta Setalvad moves SC; apex court refers plea to larger bench

After the Gujarat High Court rejected the regular bail plea of social activist Teesta Setalvad and directed her to surrender immediately on Saturday, Setalvad moved the top court hoping to get relief, however the SC referred her bail plea to a 3-judge bench after two judges of the top court differed on the ruling on Saturday.

The Gujarat High court passed quashed Setalvad's plea after observing she made attempts to unsettle a democratically elected government and sully the image of the then chief minister and current Prime Minister Narendra Modi and tried to send him to jail.

Setalvad was accused of fabricating evidence to implicate innocent people in the 2002 post-Godhra riots cases, the court of Justice Nirzar Desai said that enlarging her will send a false signal that everything in a democratic country is lenient.

The court directed Setalvad, who is currently out on interim bail, to surrender immediately. It also rejected her lawyer’s request to give her 30 days to surrender.