Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court judge Justice Samir Dave stepped aside and recused himself from hearing the regular bail plea of activist Teesta Setalvad. When the matter came up for hearing, he said "not before me" and did not assign any reason.
Senior Advocates SM Vatsa and Mihir Desai appearing for Setalvad were about to start submissions when the judge interjected. The matter will be now placed before Chief Justice Aravind Kumar who will assign it to another bench.
Setalvad is accused of the alleged fabrication of evidence to frame innocent people concerning the 2002 Gujarat riots. On September 2, the Supreme Court granted her interim bail. She and co-accused Strekumar were taken into custody on July 25 and her bail pleas were rejected by the sessions court five days later.
The Ahmedabad crime branch registered an FIR against activist Setalvad, former DGP RB Sreekumar, and ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging the clean chit given by the SIT to then Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 63 others. They were booked under the IPC sections pertaining to forgery, giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction of a capital offence, and criminal conspiracy among others.