New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday (October 22) granted permission to activist Teesta Setalvad to travel to Amsterdam for ten days to attend the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam.
Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Setalvad, told a bench comprising Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Viswanathan that she has filed a plea before the court seeking permission to travel abroad as the top court had in July, last year directed for her passport to be in the custody of the sessions court.
What did Setalvad’s counsel submit before the bench?
Sibal further told the bench that Setalvad’s documentary has been awarded in Amsterdam and she seeks the permission of the court to travel to Amsterdam from November 14 to November 24.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Gujarat government, did not object to Setalvad’s application.
Conditions imposed in August on Setlwad while allowing her plea to travel to Malaysia would apply: Apex court
The bench, while allowing Setalvad’s plea, said that the conditions imposed in August by it on her while allowing her plea to travel to Malaysia would apply on her.
The top court had in August allowed Setalvad’s plea to travel to Malaysia to attend an anti-racism conference while directing for her passport to be returned to her. It had directed Setalvad to file an undertaking before the top court that she will return to India as scheduled and face the trial and to re-surrender her passport with the trial judge. It had also directed her to furnish a solvent surety of Rs 10 lakh to the satisfaction of the sessions court.
Setalvad had received an invitation from the organisers of the International Documentary Film Festival to attend the festival in her capacity as producer of the documentary film Cycle Mahesh.
Setalvad was granted regular bail by apex court in July last year
The apex court granted Setalvad regular bail in July last year in a case of allegedly implicating innocent persons and maligning senior functionaries of the state of Gujarat by fabricating documents in the 2002 Godhra riots.
The Gujarat High Court earlier denied bail to Setalvad and had directed that her passport shall continue to be in the custody of the sessions court. The apex court, while granting her regular bail, said that her passport shall continue to be in the custody of the sessions court.
FIR was registered against Setalvad, former IPS Sanjiv Bhatt and former DGP RB Sreekumar
The First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Setalvad, former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt and former DGP RB Sreekumar following the observation of the top court while dismissing a plea filed by Zakia Jafri, wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed during the 2002 riots, challenging the finding of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team.
