SC to hear Setalvad’s plea against Guj HC order on Wednesday

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Wednesday a plea by social activist Teesta Setalvad challenging the Gujarat High Court order which had rejected her plea for regular bail and directed her to surrender immediately in a case of alleged fabrication of evidence to frame innocent people in 2002 post-Godhra riots cases.

In a special late-night hearing on July 1, the apex court had protected Setalvad from arrest and stayed for a week the high court order. According to the cause list of Wednesday posted on the apex court website, a bench comprising justices B R Gavai, A S Bopanna and Dipankar Datta would hear the matter. During the late-night hearing on Saturday, the three-judge bench had questioned the denial of time to Setalvad to appeal against the high court’s July 1 order, saying even an ordinary criminal is entitled to some form of interim relief.

“In ordinary circumstances, we would not have considered such a request. However, it is to be noted that after the FIR was registered against the petitioner on June 25, 2022 and the petitioner was arrested.