SC modifies condition imposed on activist Teesta Setalvad for travelling to Malaysia

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday modified the condition of furnishing solvent surety of Rs 10 lakh which was imposed on activist Teesta Setalvad while permitting her to travel to Malaysia from August 31 to September 10 for a conference.

The apex court had on August 20 permitted Setalvad to travel to Selangor, Malaysia for 11 days.

It had said she shall file an undertaking before the top court stating that she will return to India as scheduled and face the trial and shall also furnish solvent surety in the sum of Rs 10 lakh to the satisfaction of the sessions court in Ahmedabad.

On Thursday, Setalvad's counsel mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Justice B R Gavai.

The counsel requested the bench, also comprising Justices P K Mishra and K V Viswanathan, for modification of the condition of providing solvent surety saying it would take long time.

The bench noted that Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj, appearing for Gujarat government, has not objected to the modification sought by Setalvad's counsel.

It noted the law officer has submitted that sufficient condition to ensure her presence be imposed.

"We, therefore, modify the condition mentioned in paragraph no.6 of the said order (of August 20) and the same be replaced as under: The applicant (Setalvad) shall furnish solvent surety or cash surety or surety in the nature of fixed deposit receipt in the sum of Rs 10,00,000 to the satisfaction of the sessions court, Bhadra, Ahmedabad," the bench said in its order.

The apex court had in July last year granted her regular bail in a case of alleged fabrication of documents to frame innocent people in the 2002 post-Godhra riot cases.

During the hearing on August 20, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Setalvad, had told the top court that she has filed an application seeking permission to travel abroad as the apex court had in July last year said that her passport shall continue to be in the custody of the sessions court.

While permitting her to travel to Malaysia, the bench had said that on her return, Setalvad shall re-surrender her passport to the trial judge.

On July 19 last year, the apex court had quashed the July 1 order of the Gujarat High Court, which had denied bail to Setalvad in the case.

It had said that Setalvad's passport, which she had already surrendered, shall continue to be in the custody of the sessions court, and she would not make any attempt to influence the witnesses and stay away from them.

The Supreme Court had noted the submissions of Setalvad's counsel that the FIR against her was lodged following a judgment by the apex court on June 24, 2022 in the case of Zakia Jafri, who had alleged a larger conspiracy behind the 2002 communal riots and challenged the high court's October 5, 2017 order rejecting her petition against the finding of the top court-appointed Special Investigation Team.

Jafri is the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was among those killed at the Gulberg Housing Society during the communal riots.

Setalvad was arrested a day after the apex court's judgment in the Zakia Jafri case.

The FIR against Setalvad and two others -- former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt and former DGP R B Sreekumar -- followed the apex court's observation that some people kept "the pot boiling" of the case "for ulterior design" and "all those involved in such abuse of process, need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with the law".