The Gujarat anti-terrorism squad on Saturday arrested Indian civil rights activist and journalist Teesta Setalvad who runs the NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace, formed after the 2002 anti-Muslim Gujarat Riots and was taken to Mumbai’s Santacruz police station.
Setalvad’s lawyer Vijay Hiremath alleged that the Gujarat ATS assaulted her, “We were not informed. They barged into (her house), they assaulted her and they’ve taken her.”
He told the Indian Express that the police are trying to book her under IPC sections 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (Using as genuine a forged).
Setalvad’s arrest comes hours after Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in an interview with news agency ANI, accused the activist of giving baseless information about the 2002 Gujarat riots to the police.
On Friday, the Supreme Court of India had dismissed allegations of a “larger conspiracy” levelled by Zakia Jafri, wife of slain Congress leader Ehsan Jafri, who was brutally killed during the riots.
Zakia had filed a plea challenging the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) clean chit to then chief minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Gujarat riots.
Upholding the clearance to PM Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat, by a court-appointed Special Investigation Team or SIT, the Supreme Court said the case was “devoid of merits” and was filed “obviously, for ulterior design”.
“All those involved in such abuse of process need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with law,” the judges said, surmising that Ms Jafri’s appeal was filed under “dictation of someone”.
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Rabia Shireen is a Staff Reporter at The Cognate.
