Eventful hearing in Teesta Setalvad’s anticipatory bail petition in Supreme Court; Stay on arrest extended till Feb 19

The hearing in the anticipatory bail petition filed by Civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand in the Supreme Court turned out to be eventful as court room 4 witnessed remarks and counter remarks by Senior lawyers..A Division Bench comprising Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya and Justice NV Ramana, which heard the matter, adjourned it and posted the case for February 19 to allow the parties to file additional documents..Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for Setalvad while Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta represented the Gujarat government..Setalvad and Anand have been accused of misappropriating funds collected for building a “Museum of Resistance” at Gulbarg housing society in Ahmedabad where over 60 persons were killed during the Godhra riots of 2002. Gujarat High Court had denied bail to the couple and their arrest seemed imminent when Kapil Sibal mentioned the matter yesterday before Chief Justice Dattu, who stayed the arrest and listed the matter for hearing today..When the matter was taken up as item 57 in court room 4 today, Justice Mukhopadhaya did not seem inclined to grant relief..“We are not on politics. We will deal with the case just like any other individual case”, he remarked..But Sibal persisted relentlessly. He submitted that,.“We are left with very few people who are ready to fight the State. Even if the allegations are accepted, can there be a case of cheating? Can there be a case for breach of trust?”.Sibal also proceeded to clarify that the plea in the Supreme Court is only for anticipatory bail and not for quashing the case and that Setalvad is willing to face the investigation. He submitted that there are no complaints filed by any of the donors [of money]..“I am ready to produce every single document. I had filed every document in the High Court. The Court was not even ready to look at it. The cops are at my doorstep even before the judgment is delivered [by the High Court]. What is happening in this country?”.Justice Mukhpoadhaya, however, clarified that the Supreme Court is not sitting in appeal over the judgment of the High Court..“We have the judgment in our hands. But we are not going to go through it. We will decided your case independent of that”, he said..ASG Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Gujarat government, submitted that the bank statement in 2002 which showed ‘nil’ now stood at Rs. 3.63 crore..“They wear branded clothes and shoes and travel abroad”, he submitted..Senior Advocate and former ASG Indira Jaising, who was seated in the Court, immediately remarked:.“What about the Rs. 10 lakh suit?”.The Court, however, asked the lawyers to maintain decorum..It then allowed the parties time to file additional documents and posted the case for February 19. The stay on arrest will continue till then..The Supreme Court had yesterday drawn flak from various quarters for allowing Kapil Sibal to interrupt the hearing of another case and mention Setalvad’s matter..Image taken from here.