Activist Teesta Setalvad and on former Gujarat Director General of Police RB Sreekumar Saturday were sent to 14-day judicial custody by a Gujarat court, according to ANI.
A Gujarat court on Sunday remanded the activist in police custody till July 2. The police had demanded 14-day custody.
Teesta, through her counsel SM Vatsa, sought protection in jail, The Indian Express reported. She said that many persons who were convicted because of her were at the Sabarmati central jail, where she will be lodged during her judicial custody.
Setalvad was arrested on June 26 for allegedly committing forgery and fabricating evidence in a case related to the 2002 Gujarat riots. Sreekumar was arrested on the same charges a day ago.
The Gujarat Police’s Anti Terror Squad had picked up Setalvad from her Mumbai home on June 25 to question her in connection with the statements she made about the violence at Ahmedabad’s Gulberg Society in the aftermath of the Godhra train burning in 2002.
A mob had gone on a rampage at Gulberg Society on February 28, 2002, setting fire to homes. Sixty-nine persons died, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was hacked to death. The day before, 59 persons returning from Ayodhya had died when a coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt in Godhra in Gujarat.
The action against Setalvad came hours after Union Home Minister Amit Shah in an interview with ANI had accused Setalvad of giving baseless information to the police about the 2002 Gujarat riots.
On June 24, the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea filed by Zakia Jafri and Setalvad, challenging the report of a Special Investigation Team that had cleared Narendra Modi, who was the Gujarat chief minister in 2002 when the riots took place. Zakia Jafri is the wife of Ehsan Jafri.
The court had said that the petition was filed “to keep the pot boiling for ulterior design”.
The United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, said that the police action against Setalvad was deeply concerning.
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