You want to send Teesta Setalvad back to custody after 7 years of bail? SC asks CBI, Gujarat govt

• The issue pertains to an alleged embezzlement of funds for a museum at Amedabad’s Gulbarg Society
• The prosecution said that are more than one case against Setalvad and her husband
• ‘Question is how long can you keep someone in custody? Seven years have passed since anticipatory bail was granted’

The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the CBI and the Gujarat government as to why they want to send social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand back in jail after they have been out for over seven years on anticipatory bail, according to Live Law.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Abhay S Oka and BV Nagarathna said, “Question is how long can you keep someone in custody? Seven years have passed since anticipatory bail was granted. You want to send her back to custody.”

Advocate Rajat Nair, appearing for the CBI and the Gujarat government said some additional material needed to be placed before the court with regard to the cases and, therefore, four weeks may be given, according to the legal news portal.

Appearing for the noted activist, senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Aparna Bhat said in one of the proceedings in which the CBI has come in appeal, anticipatory bail was granted following which a charge sheet was filed and after that regular bail was granted to her, noted the news agency. He said since a regular bail was granted, the appeal of the probe agency against anticipatory bail does not survive.

Matter to be heard after four weeks 

The prosecution said that are more than one case against Setalvad and her husband, requesting the court to grant him four weeks to place material on record. Advocate Nair said: “A bench of two judges has referred this matter to a larger bench and has framed questions which need to be decided by this court.” The bench posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks. The top court was hearing a batch of pleas filed by Setalvad, Anand, the Gujarat police and the CBI arising out of three FIRs lodged against the couple.

Background

The issue pertains to an alleged embezzlement of funds for a museum at Amedabad’s Gulbarg Society which was destroyed in the worst communal riots in 2002. An FIR was lodged against Setalvad and her husband in 2014 by DCP, Crime Branch, Ahmedabad, on charges of cheating, breach of trust and under the IT Act in a matter related to the construction of the “Museum of Resistance” in the Gulbarg housing society. The top court in 2015 had referred to a larger bench the anticipatory bail plea of Setalvad and her husband, extending its interim order protecting them against arrest.

Teesta Setalvad and her husband, who were trustees of two trusts- ‘Citizens for Justice and Peace’ (CJP) and ‘Sabrang Trust’- were accused by Feroz Khan Saeed Khan Pathan of having raised a few crore of rupees as a donation from certain donors from India and abroad after projecting to them the plight of the riot-affected people of Gulbarg Society, as per media reports.

-INDIA NEWS STREAM