Supreme Court permits Teesta Setalvad to travel abroad subject to ₹10 lakh surety

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted permission to activist Teesta Setalvad to travel abroad for a conference, subject to furnishing solvent surety of ₹10 lakh. .The Court also directed her to give an undertaking with details of her travel and also ordered that she should return her passport after the conference ends.Setalvad is presently out on bail in connection with a criminal case involving allegations of a conspiracy to malign the State of Gujarat and then Chief Minister Narendra Modi for their handling of the 2002 Gujarat riots.The Supreme Court had allowed her bail plea in July 2023, by overturning a Gujarat High Court verdict in the matter. At the time, the top court had also asked Setalvad to surrender her passport as a condition for bail. Today, her counsel told the Bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan that the activist was seeking a relaxation of this bail condition to travel to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from August 31 to September 10 to attend an anti-racism conference. "I am seeking relaxation of the condition that I have to surrender my passport. It is a respected organisation," Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal told the Bench on behalf of Setalvad..Solicitor General Tushar Mehta suggested that if she is being allowed to travel abroad, conditions should be imposed so that Setalvad's return to India is also assured. "Let them say the details for the conference and the real purpose of the visit also. Lordships may add conditions to ensure return to face pending trials ... We have serious apprehension. Zakir Naik (terror accused, fugitive from Indian law) stays there milord," Mehta said. The Court proceeded to allow Setalvad's plea after asking her to furnish a solvent surety of ₹10 lakh and to return her passport after the conference ends. The Court was initially inclined to set the surety amount at around ₹25,000. However, it raised the amount following an objection by SG Mehta, who said ₹25,000 would be "nothing for her." Sibal replied that Setalvad's accounts remain frozen.Nevertheless, the Court proceeded to enhance the surety amount to address the SG's concerns. .Setalvad was arrested a day after a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court made certain adverse remarks against her on June 24, 2022 while dismissing the plea by Zakia Jafri, the wife of slain Congress Member of Parliament (MP), Ehsan Jafri who was killed during the 2002 Gujarat Riots.Zakia Jafri had challenged the Gujarat High Court’s 2017 order upholding a magistrate's decision to accept a closure report filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the case.While dismissing the plea, the top court had made certain observations against Setalvad and former Director General of Police, Sreekumar, terming them "disgruntled."The Supreme Court said that there was a coalesced effort by the two to create a sensation by making revelations that were false to their own knowledge.Subsequently, Setalvad was arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad from Mumbai and taken to Gujarat. Sreekumar was also arrested in Gujarat.Setalvad was accused of fabricating documents and tutoring witnesses to implicate higher functionaries of the Gujarat government led by then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, in the Gujarat riots case.She was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in this case in September 2022. However, her regular bail was later rejected by a trial court as well as the Gujarat High Court. On July 1, 2023, the High Court not only rejected her bail plea but also ordered her immediate arrest. However, this order was stayed the same day by the Supreme Court. On July 19, the Supreme Court proceeded to grant regular bail to Setalvad.