Ahmedabad::

The Gujarat High Court has issued a notice to the state government on a plea filed by social activist Teesta Setalvad seeking cancellation of a First Information Report against her for allegedly fabricating evidence in 2002 riots cases.

The court of Justice JC Doshi issued notices to the state government and the investigating officer in the case on Wednesday, returnable on November 29. The court also issued a notice to the government on Ms Setalvad’s plea for grant of interim relief by staying the ongoing trial, also returnable on the same date.

The court also directed the investigating officer to file a report about progress in investigation, and permitted the petitioner to produce additional documents by way of an affidavit.

A sessions court had rejected Ms Setalvad’s discharge plea in the case, even as the Supreme Court granted her bail in July after the Gujarat High Court denied relief to her.

Ms Setalvad and two others — former state Director General of Police R B Sreekumar and former Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt — were arrested by the Crime Branch in June 2022 on charges of forgery and fabricating false evidence with the intent to implicate Gujarat government functionaries, including then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, in the 2002 riots cases.

An FIR was registered against them soon after the Supreme Court last year dismissed the plea filed by Zakia Jafri, whose husband and former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was killed during the riots.

She has been booked under sections 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 194 (giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offence) of the Indian Penal Code, among others.

The plea alleged a “larger conspiracy” behind the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat involving the then chief minister Modi. The court upheld the SIT’s clean chit to Modi and 63 others.

In its judgment, the Supreme Court observed, “The falsity of their claims had been fully exposed by the SIT after a thorough investigation… As a matter of fact, all those involved in such abuse of process, need to be in the dock and proceed in accordance with law”.
Ehsan Jafri was among the 68 people killed at Ahmedabad’s Gulberg Society during violence on February 28, 2002, a day after the Godhra train burning that claimed 59 lives.

The riots it triggered killed 1,044 people, mostly Muslims. Giving details, the Central government informed the Rajya Sabha in May 2005 that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed in the post-Godhra riots.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Delhi Police has levelled a series of strong allegations against NewsClick, whose founder and HR head have been arrested under a stringent anti-terror law. Sources in the force alleged the news portal received Rs 38 crore from entities linked to Chinese individuals and some of its funds were shared with activists Gautam Navlakha and Teesta Setalvad, who are accused in other cases.

Days after a New York Times investigation alleged that the news portal had received money for pro-China propaganda, the police carried out searches at the home of journalists linked to NewsClick at over 100 locations in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai on Tuesday. 

Inflow

Delhi Police sources alleged NewsClick received Rs 38 crore from entities allegedly linked to Chinese individuals and the funds were used to influence pro-China content on the portal. They claimed Rs 9 crore was received as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through inflating share prices and 29 crore was received as fees for export services. 

“No proof was submitted by NewsClick for exporting any services to foreign entities,” a source said.

‘Fund Sharing?’

The sources claimed that some of the funds collected by NewsClick were also shared with Gautam Navlakha and Teesta Setalavad. 

Mr Navlakha was arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case in 2018 and has been under arrest since then. In November last year, the Supreme Court had allowed the journalist-activist to be placed under house arrest because of his deteriorating health condition. 

Mr Navlakha was among several activists who had been arrested in a case related to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held on December 31, 2017. Police claimed that these speeches triggered violence the next day at a gathering near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial near the city. 

Teesta Setalavad was arrested in June 2022 along with former Gujarat police chief RB Sreekumar and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt for allegedly using her close associates and riot victims to file “false and fabricated affidavits before the Supreme Court with a view to unseat the establishment and to tarnish the image of the establishment and the then chief minister.”

She was granted bail by the Supreme Court in July this year. The bench had questioned the motives and timing of Ms Setalvad’s arrest and said it thought the case against her was suspect. 

NewsClick has not reacted to these charges so far.

Other Reactions

The sources said 46 individuals associated with NewsClick are under investigation by agencies.  “A total of 37 male suspects have been questioned at premises, 9 female suspects have been questioned at their respective places of stay and digital devices, documents etc. have been seized/collected for examination. The proceedings are still ongoing; so far, two accused have been arrested – NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakravarty,” a source said. 

A statement released by the Editors Guild of India said, “EGI is concerned that these raids are yet another attempt to muzzle the media. While we recognise that the law must take its course if actual offences are involved, the due process has to be followed. The investigation of specific offences must not create a general atmosphere of intimidation under the shadow of draconian laws, or impinge on the freedom of expression and the raising of dissenting and critical voices.”

The Opposition parties have slammed the government over the raids. “The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties strongly condemn the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s fresh attack on the media. We steadfastly stand with the media and for the constitutionally protected freedoms of speech and expression,” a joint statement by the bloc said.

The government has, however, said it does not need to justify the agencies’ action. “If anyone has done anything wrong, search agencies are free to carry out investigations against them under set guidelines,” Union Minister Anurag Thakur said.

Mumbai:

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit on Sunday wondered whether the Supreme Court would treat “us” equally the way it did to grant relief to activist Teesta Setalvad on a Saturday night.

The JNU Vice-Chancellor was referring to the Supreme Court granting interim protection on July 1 to Setalvad from arrest in connection with a case of alleged fabrication of evidence to frame innocent people in 2002 post-Godhra riot cases.

“The Leftist ecosystem still exists. You know, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court opened the court on a Saturday night to give Teesta Setalvad bail. Will it happen for us,” she asked while speaking at the launch of Marathi book ‘Jagala Pokharnari Davi Walvi’ (World-weakening Leftist Termites) in Pune.

Pandit had served as a professor in the Political Science department at the Savitribai Phule Pune University in Maharashtra.

“To retain political power, you need (to have) narrative power. We need to have it. Unless we attain it, we will be like a directionless ship,” she said.

She recalled her childhood association with RSS-affiliated organisations. She said, “I was a ‘Bal Sevika’ in my childhood. I got my sanskars (values) from the RSS only. I am proud to say that I belong to the Sangh (RSS) and I am proud to say that I am a Hindu. I do not hesitate at all.” “Garv se kehti hu main Hindu hoon,” she repeated, with the audience shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

“Left and RSS are individual ideologies. There has been a major paradigm shift post-2014 in the conflict between these two ideologies,” she said.

Pandit, who was appointed as the JNU Vice-Chancellor in February last year, said some people opposed her decision to put the national flag and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photo on the varsity premises.

Pandit said she told them that they were enjoying free meals on the campus with taxpayers’ money and they should bow before the national flag and PM Modi’s photo.

“Until I went to JNU, there was no photo of PM Modi, the President of India or the national flag. Many people told me not to bring (them) on the campus. I told them you enjoy free meals here with taxpayers’ money, bow before them.” She said, “He is the prime minister of the country. He does not belong to any party. More than a year has passed and nobody has protested against it,” she said.

Referring to the upcoming Nalanda University in Bihar, she said, “I recently visited the Nalanda University at Bakhtiyarpur. We should change that Bakhtiyarpur name. What kind of name is that.” On the country’s ancient civilisation, she said, “Our Bharatiya civilisation is superior, feminist and greatest in the world. Draupadi is the first feminist and not one Simone De Beauvoir (French philosopher). Our civilisation is nature-centric.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)