JOIN USSetalvad, General secretary of NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace, through her counsel Kamini Jaiswal demanded the court to quash the FIR on the ground that she was not present at the site of digging and the government was acting with malafide intention against her.
Jaiswal had argued that the summons and the FIR against her client were ‘motivated’ while claiming that it was intended to ‘stop her from helping the victims of 2002 riots in their legal battle’.
Whereas Government pleader (GP) P K Jani informed the court that Sanitary Inspector of the Lunawada Municipality had earlier described the circumstances leading to the “official burial” of 28 bodies of riot victims on the banks of Panam river outside Lunawada town because the bodies were unclaimed.
Later, some persons claiming to be relatives of those who were buried had dug up the mass graves without any permission.These allegedly included Rais Khan Pathan and others, the GP had said.
Setalvad was granted anticipatory bail in the case by a local court on February 15, 2011.
However, it was opposed by her co-accused including Rais Khan Pathan, Ghulan Kharadi and others who testified before the magistrate that they had dug up the mass graves at her behest.
Charges against Teesta Setalvad included fabricating false evidence, causing disappearance of evidence, criminal conspiracy, hurting religious feelings, trespass into burial place etc.