The Supreme Court directed that Teesta Setalvad’s plea for passport release be heard by a three judge bench. Noting her bail was granted by a similar bench, the court held parity in bench strength was appropriate for consideration.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court ordered that the miscellaneous application filed by Teesta Setalvad, seeking release of her passport, be heard by a three-judge bench. The direction was given by a Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma, which noted that Setalvad’s original bail order was also passed by a three-judge bench. The Court therefore said it was appropriate for the present application to be considered by a bench of a similar strength.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Setalvad, mentioned the matter and requested suitable directions regarding her application for release of her passport. Setalvad was granted regular bail in July 2023 in a case registered by the Gujarat Police alleging fabrication of evidence in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots cases.
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The earlier ruling on her bail was delivered by a three-judge bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai, A.S. Bopanna, and Dipankar Datta which had set aside the Gujarat High Court’s decision denying her bail.
Under the bail conditions, the Supreme Court directed that Setalvad’s passport remain deposited with the trial court, limiting her ability to travel abroad without prior permission. In the current application, Setalvad sought release of her passport, which is still held by the Sessions Court. The Supreme Court has, on earlier occasions, allowed her to travel abroad for specific purposes, including her trip to Amsterdam for the premiere of her documentary “CycleMahesh” and her visit to Malaysia for an anti-racism conference both subject to terms imposed by the Court.
Teesta Setalvad, who is also a co-petitioner in a Supreme Court plea challenging the “clean chit” granted to former Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots case, was detained by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad on June 25, 2022.
In a separate development reported in 2023, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit raised concerns about whether the Supreme Court provides equal treatment to different individuals. Speaking at a book launch event in Pune, she pointed to the rapid relief granted to Setalvad by the Chief Justice on a Saturday night, questioning whether similar urgency would be extended to others.
She said,
“The Leftist ecosystem still exists. You know, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court opened the court on a Saturday night to give Teesta Setalvad bail. Will it happen for us”,
The event was the launch of the book titled “Jagala Pokharnari Dawi Valvi” (translated as World-weakening Leftist Termites), authored by Abhijit Jog at Pune’s Symbiosis International University. Pandit, the first woman to lead JNU, was appointed in February 2022 after serving as a Professor of Political Science at Savitribai Phule Pune University.
She said the Supreme Court constituted a bench for a special hearing at 6.30 p.m. on Saturday. The matter was then placed before a division bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Prashant Kumar Mishra.
Before the Gujarat High Court, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Gujarat government, opposed granting any relief to Setalvad. He argued that Setalvad did not deserve even interim bail, alleging that she had forged documents, tutored witnesses, and influenced the justice delivery system to make sensational allegations against the state government. He also described her as an “extraordinary citizen” and urged the Court to follow the standard procedure for bail applications.
However, after a brief hearing, the division bench differed on whether protection should be granted to Setalvad and referred the matter to the Chief Justice of India for an administrative decision on constituting a larger bench. The case was then placed before a larger bench at 9:15 p.m. on the same night. The special three-judge bench stayed the Gujarat High Court’s order denying bail to Setalvad and granted her one week’s interim relief.
Case Title: Teesta Atul Setalvad v. State of Gujarat
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