Godhra riots: Setalvad, Sreekumar sent to Sabarmati central jail under judicial custody

Facing charges of fabricating evidence and tutoring witnesses in 2002 riots cases for seeking conviction, Mumbai activist Teesta Setalvad and former Director General of Police (DGP) R B Sreekumar on Saturday were sent to Sabarmati central jail in judicial custody. The metropolitan court while sending them to jail directed the authorities to provide them appropriate security in accordance with the law.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing the case, produced them before the metropolitan magistrate, M V Chauhan after their police remand ended on Saturday. The SIT didn't seek their further custody, following which the court ordered them to be lodged at Sabarmati jail.

During the proceedings, Setalvad filed an application raising security concerns over the fact that several accused and convicts including women against whom her organisation, Citizen for Justice and Peace, provided legal aid, are also lodged there. She requested the court to keep her away from those accused or convicts. Sreekumar also endorsed the plea and sought to be kept away from those accused.

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Her application was opposed by the public prosecutors- Mitesh Amin and Amit Patel- who said that "the security threat is mere an assumption and she is not an extraordinary prisoner to be treated differently." Later, the court passed an order asking the jail authorities to take appropriate action in accordance with the law.

The Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch arrested Sreekumar and Setalvad on June 25 and June 26 respectively allegedly for "forgery, fabricating false evidence and criminal conspiracy" to seek conviction in 2002 post Godhra riot cases. After their arrest, the metro court had sent them to police custody till July 2 for questioning.

The FIR was registered following the Supreme Court's observations against Teesta and others while dealing with Zakia Jafri's appeal petition challenging clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others from the riots. Zakia, wife of ex Congress MP Ahsan Jafri killed in Gulberg Society massacre in the riots, had sought investigation against state functionaries including the then Chief Minister.

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The top court in a strongly worded order had said "those who had kept the pot boiling" with an "ulterior motive" for the past 16 years should be in the dock and be "proceeded with in accordance with the law". Former IPS officer and currently in jail, Sanjiv Bhatt, is the third named accused in this case.

Upon their production when the magistrate asked them if they had anything to say, Setalvad said that she was not ill-treated during the remand period but six policemen were put to watch her all the time "as if I am a dangerous person." Similarly, Seekumar also didn't complain of any ill-treatment and wanted to record his statement. The court rejected it saying that his statement could be recorded only under code of criminal procedure and that too if he pleaded guilty. The ex DGP refused to plead guilty.

The courtroom was packed with lawyers, many of them were part of Teesta's legal team assisting the riot victims, her husband Javed Anand, and scores of journalists. It was the same court, where Setalvad and her battery of lawyers, fought the legal battle on behalf of Zakia Jafri while challenging the closure report that the Supreme Court appointed-Special Investigation Team had submitted.

Outside the court Setalvad shouted "Satyamev Jayate" (truth alone triumphs) while Sreekumar showed victory signs on their way to Sabarmati central jail.