Supreme Court Grants Teesta Setalvad Permission to Travel Abroad

The Supreme Court granted permission to human rights activist Teesta Setalvad on Tuesday to travel abroad to attend a conference.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan permitted Setalvad to travel to Malaysia from August 31 to September 10, provided she furnishes a solvent surety of Rs 10 lakh. The bench also instructed her to provide an undertaking with details of her travel and ordered that she return her passport after the conference ends.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Setalvad, informed the top court that she sought a relaxation of her bail conditions to attend an anti-racism conference in Malaysia during the specified dates. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that if Setalvad is allowed to travel abroad, conditions should be imposed to ensure her return to India.

Setalvad is currently on bail in connection with a criminal case involving allegations of a conspiracy to malign the State of Gujarat and then-Chief Minister Narendra Modi over their handling of the 2002 Gujarat riots. Last year, the Supreme Court granted regular bail to the activist after she challenged the Gujarat High Court’s order, which had rejected her bail application and instructed her to surrender.

Teesta Setalvad was arrested by the Gujarat Police on June 25, 2022, following an FIR by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) on charges of conspiring to falsely implicate innocent individuals in relation to the 2002 Gujarat riots.