Teesta Setalvad, general secretary of the Mumbai-based human rights organisation, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), has denied the allegations made against her by a former employee of the organisation about “fabricating” the affidavits of the 2002 Gujarat communal riot victims and other irregularities.
Ms. Setalvad on Thursday filed a counter-affidavit from Mumbai before the G. T. Nanavati–Akshay Mehta Judicial Enquiry Commission probing the Godhra train carnage and the post-Godhra riots in the State, to refute the charges made against her in an affidavit filed before the Commission by the former employee of the organisation Rais Khan Pathan, who was the field co-ordinator of the organisation in Ahmedabad when it was taking up cases of the riot victims to fight before the Commission and various courts of law.
Refuting all the allegations made against her, Ms. Setalvad pointed out that Rais Khan Pathan was removed from the services of the CJP on January 18, 2008, by the Board of Trustees of the organisation after complaints of “misappropriation of funds and other unethical behaviour” came to the notice of the CJP.
Accusing Rais Khan Pathan of “hobnobbing” with the riot accused and the BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leadership to the disadvantage of the riot victims, Ms Setalvad said ever since the Best Bakery case was transferred out of Gujarat by the Supreme Court, the CJP and she had been made the “target of attack” by the powerful and influential people in Gujarat who wanted to deny justice to the riot victims. “Rais Khan and earlier Zahira Sheikh, the main witness in the Best Bakery case, are merely petty pawns in their hands in a much bigger game,” she alleged.
Ms. Setalvad denied that she “fabricated” the affidavits filed by the riot victims and witnesses or played any role in changing the versions of the affidavits as alleged by Mr. Pathan. She disagreed that the affidavits were “manufactured” by her in Mumbai and sent to Rais Khan Pathan by e-mail only to get the signature of the victims who were unaware of what were written in the affidavits. She claimed that the affidavits were prepared in Ahmedabad and the victims stood by their versions even in the affidavits filed in the Supreme Court in connection with various cases. She said Mr. Pathan's accusation of she having “hacked” his e-mail ID was totally baseless and a “fit of imagination.”
Claiming that she and the CJP received a number of complaints against Mr. Pathan of having amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income, owning several bank accounts and mobile phones and holding other assets, Ms. Setalvad alleged that her former employee was playing into the hands of the “mighty and powerful in Gujarat” to derail the process of justice for the victims by filling such affidavits with baseless allegations against her and the CJP.
She appealed to the Commission to allow her to cross-examine Mr. Pathan to expose his falsehood about the role played by her and the CJP in providing justice to the 2002 riot victims at different forums.
