SC asks police not to arrest Teesta, husband

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Gujarat police not to arrest activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband, accused of embezzling funds raised for the 2002 Gujarat riot victims, till further orders.

The court said that “liberty is paramount and cannot be put in the ventilator of an intensive care unit” in the case of financial irregularities.

The court, however, ordered the couple to cooperate with the investigating agency and provide all necessary documents, including donors’ list, required for the probe.

After a two-hour-long argument, a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Adarsh Kumar Goel reserved its judgment on the petitions filed by Teesta and her husband Javed Anand, challenging the February 13 Gujarat High Court order which had rejected their anticipatory bail plea. During the hearing, the court made senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the Gujarat police, concede that charges of forgery and other offences under the Information Technology were not made out in the case.