by PRASHANT BHUSHAN
Citizens’ groups stage a protest in support of Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand, who have been accused of embezzlement and are being sought by the Gujarat Police. PHOTO/PTI
The case of Teesta Setalvad is a chilling example of what can still happen to even highly acclaimed and well connected persons in this country if they take on those in authority, and especially if the person you have taken on becomes the most powerful person in the country. It is also a sad commentary on how a supposedly independent judiciary does sometimes appear to get influenced by executive authority.
For the last 13 years Teesta has fought a valiant and sometimes lonely battle to bring the perpetrators of the 2002 Gujarat carnage to justice. In this battle, she produced considerable evidence to demonstrate the role of Narendra Modi in abetting the carnage, and kept raising her courageous voice against him.
In retaliation, the Gujarat police registered several cases against her and repeatedly tried to arrest her. But in earlier cases the courts came to her rescue and stayed her arrest and investigations against her.
But now, in a complaint of misappropriation of trust funds filed by a purported resident of Gulbarga society (not by any member or donor of the trust), a single judge of the Gujarat high court has not only dismissed her application for anticipatory bail, but has also urged the police to arrest her and subject her to “custodial interrogation”.
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