Setalvad’s arrest came a day after a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court had made adverse remarks against her on June 24 while dismissing the plea by Zakia Jafri, wife of slain Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed during the 2002 Gujarat Riots. She (Jafri) had challenged the Gujarat High Court’s decision of 2017 upholding the magistrate’s decision to accept the closure report filed by the SIT in the case.
While dismissing the plea, the top court had made certain observations against Setalvad and former DGP Sreekumar, terming them “disgruntled”.
The Court said that there was a coalesced effort by them 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 from Gujarat.
On July 30, an Ahmedabad sessions court refused to grant bail to Setalvad, noting that she and other accused appeared to have aimed to “destabilise” the Gujarat government and defame the State for ulterior motives.
Source: Barandbench
