In a blow to social activist Teesta Setalvad, the Supreme Court refused on Monday to grant her relief in a case accusing her of having a role in illegal exhumation of bodies of some victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots.
A Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra said the charge sheet in the case had already been filed and the merits would be examined in the trial court. It said it would be appropriate for Ms. Setalvad to seek remedies, including the quashing of the charge sheet filed on April 3, 2011, before the trial court.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal argued that though the charge sheet had been filed, no offence had been made out against Ms. Setalvad, who said she was being victimised for taking up the cause of the riot victims.
The Gujarat government claimed that it had emerged during the probe that “Teesta Setalvad, the petitioner herein, was the main accused who planned and executed this operation of digging of graves near Pandarwada through her staff.” It was rumoured that 28 unidentified bodies of riot victims were buried in the graveyard.
