SC grants Teesta protection from arrest, stays HC order for 7 days

Following a day of dramatic events that involved three benches of constitutional courts, the Supreme Court late on Saturday evening protected activist Teesta Atul Setalvad from arrest for a week, observing "heavens won't fall" if she remains out on interim bail in connection with charges of falsifying evidence in the 2002 Gujarat riots case.

- Utkarsh Anand

Setalvad got the reprieve from a specially constituted three-judge bench, which was set up after the two judges on the previous bench had a difference of opinion. At llam on Saturday, the Gujarat high court dismissed Setalvad's regular bail plea, and further rejected her plea for an interim bail for 30 days to enable her to approach the top court.

The high court order compelled Setalvad to rush to the top court, which allowed her an urgent hearing on a court holiday within hours. The two-judge bench sat at 6.40pm but failed to agree on granting her protection. Thus, the matter was referred to a larger bench of three judges, which sat at 9.15pm and accorded Setalvad interim relief for seven days after a 40-minute hearing.

"A person has been on bail since September 2022 under the orders of this Court...10 months have passed. What urgency was that the person should not be given even seven days to challenge the order of denial of bail? Will the skies fall if interim protection was granted? What was the alarming urgency for the high court to pass such an order?" lamented a three-judge bench led by justice BR Gavai while staying the HC order for a week.