India rejects criticism on action against Teesta Setalvad

[GS Paper 2 – Indian Constitution, Judiciary]

Context – India recently rejected criticism by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) of the arrest of rights activist Teesta Setalvad and two others and said authorities had acted in line with established judicial processes.

Key Highlights

• External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the comments by OHCHR were “completely unwarranted”.

• MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi defended the arrest of Ms. Setalvad and said the matter was being conducted in “accordance” with law. 

• The government, however, did not respond to a criticism that came from the office of the Secretary General of the UN following the arrest of journalist and fact checker Mohammed Zubair.

About the Case

• A day after arresting former top police official R.B. Sreekumar and activist Teesta Setalvad for alleged forgery regarding 2002 riots cases, the Gujarat Police formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe their role in the case.
  
• The SIT is headed by Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) Deputy Inspector General Deepan Bhadran while Superintendent of Police of the ATS Sunil Joshi and Deputy Commissioner of Police of the Ahmedabad crime branch Chaitanya Mandlik are its members.
  
• The police will collect the documents submitted by the three accused — Ms. Setalvad, Mr. Sreekumar, and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt — in connection with the 2002 riots cases.
• The police will collect the documents submitted by the three accused — Ms. Setalvad, Mr. Sreekumar, and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt — in connection with the 2002 riots cases.
• Ms. Setalvad and her NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace were co-petitioners with Zakia Jafri in the petition filed against the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others in the Supreme Court alleging “larger conspiracy” during the 2002 communal riots in which more than 1,000 people were killed across the State.

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