Note on the Legal Proceedings in the Pandharwada Case (Victimisation of Teesta Setalvad, Human Rights Defender)

May 25, 2011

From Teesta Setalvad

Note on proceedings in Gujarat HC on May 25 2011


On May 25, 2011 the hearing in Teesta Setalvad’s petition oraying for the quashing of the FIR in the Pandharwada Mass Gaves Case (please refer to the Backgrounder and Petition attached), arguments went on for over two and a half hours. Senior advocate Ms Kamini jaiswal from the Supreme Court made a strong and cogent plea for quashing of the FIR and summons dated May 9, 2011. As the petition attached explains clearly Setalvad has been arraigned as an ‘absconding accused’, belatedly and in a malafide act, only on April 6, 2011, i.e. five years after the FIR against victim survivors of the Pandharwada mass graves case was filed and a former employee Rais Khan of the CJP was also made an accused. Rais Khan since disassociated with the organization has been won over by powerful state functionaries and accused in the state of Gujarat.

Before April 6, 2011 when the chargesheet was belatedly filed, Setalvad had been summoned as a witness under section 160 CRPC (on March 25 2011). She had immediately replied to the summons requesting the police to record her statement at her residence which is under the provisions of the law. Thereafter an illegal and malafide summons was issued that too after the charge sheet was filed. Once a chargesheet is filed the competent authority to issue any summons remains a Court of Law not the police. Even before March 25, 2011, Setalvad was in no way absconding as she had moved for ABA first in December 2010 in Mumbai and thereafter in Godhra. She received anticipatory bail on February 15, 2011 and therefore in no way could be called an absconding accused. Counsel Ms Jaiswal arugued that there had been in no way any change in circumstance between January, March and April 2011 for Setalvad to have suddenly made an ‘absconding accused’ after first being summoned as witness except that the Investigating Officer (Joshi) had suddenly been transferred (it is now an IO Ninama).

The impunity that Rais Khan a co-accused in this cas enjoys within the state of Gujarat is appreciable in the fact of the interviews given by him on December 30 and 31, 2010 gleefully published in the Times of India, Ahmedabad wherein he states that he would ensure Setalvad’s arrest. On January 25, 2011 Setalvad made a detailed representation to the state Director General of Police Chittaranjan Singh and DIG Vadodara Range, JK Bhatt making herself and her organization available for any lawfully conducted investigation. She had also provided copies of the CD an transcript of the original digging episode wherein Rahul Singh of Sahara Samay (then) had relayed the episode to the nation. Rahul Singh was originally feared to be also implicated but he has been kept out so far by the police though in late 2010 they had arrived in Bhopal with a summons for him.

The strategy of the Gujarat police appears to be to intimidate and bully setalvad into responding to an illegal and malafide summons and thereafter applying the same arbitrary principles maybe detain her and deny her freedom and liberty in complete transgression of the law. On May 27, 2011 orders are expected from the Gujarat High Court.



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The Times of India, 26 MAY 2011

Gujarat EDN

PANDARWADA CASE

HC reserves order on Teesta’s petition

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court on Wednesday completed hearing on the petition filed by activist Teesta Setalvad seeking quashing of the FIR in connection with exhuming dead bodies at the Pandarwada mass grave in 2005. Justice G B Shah has kept his order pending till Friday.

After the bodies were exhumed by the then coordinator of Citizens for Justice and Peace, Rais Khan along with some local residents, the authorities of Lunawada Municipality filed a complaint against seven persons. Khan and couple of others were arrested in this case earlier this year after the high court vacated the stay on investigation.

During their custodial interrogation, Setalvad’s name was revealed and Khan alleged the grave was dug up at Setalvad’s behest. The investigating officer issued summons to Setalvad, who had obtained anticipatory bail from a Mumbai court. Finally, when chargesheet was filed, Setalvad was shown as absconding accused.

Objecting to this, Setalvad filed a petition through advocate Kamini Jaiswal demanding quashing of the FIR claiming that instead of making her a witness in this case, the police sought to implicate her as an accused.

Setalvad has taken contention that instead of taking action against accused in the massacre, who were acquitted in absence of evidence, a section in the state government is trying to frame her and the victims of the violence. She also argued that the prosecution is taking undue advantage of disgruntled former employee of her organization, Citizens for Justice and Peace.

During the proceeding, Justice Shah asked the petitioner why she did not prefer challenging the summons, if she had objection to issuance of summons. To this, advocate Jaiswal proposed the court that if the summons are stayed, she would be withdrawing her quashing petition.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hc-reserves-order-to-summon-teesta/795593/0

IE 26MAY2011 Gujarat EDN

HC reserves order to summon Teesta

Express News Service

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday reserved its order till May 27 to quash the criminal proceedings against activist Teesta Setalvad. Panchmahals police had registered a case against her in connection with the digging of mass graves in Panderwada in 2006. Setalvad had filed a petition to quash the same. The state government has termed Setalvad as the main conspirator in the case while the activist has accused the government of acting against her with malafide intention.

In her petition, Setalvad has also sought quashing of the summon issued by the investigating officer asking her to appear before him on May 31. The police had first summoned her in connection with the case on May 9. Setalvad’s counsel Kamini Jaiswal said Setalvad was not present at the scene of the alleged offence when it was reported. Jaiswal also took objection to naming Setalvad an absconding accused in the chargesheet against the other accused. She said Setalvad has been in correspondence with the Investigating Officer regularly, adding that the IO has sent her summons at her residence after the filing of the chargesheet.

Public Prosecutor Prakash Jani opposed the petition and said Setalvad had come out as the main conspirator in the case and as many as five accused had given statements under Section 164 of the CrPC against her in this regard. He also argued that the HC had previously dismissed a similar petition seeking interalia to quash a particular section in the case.

During hearing, Justice G B Shah asked Jani why the state government called Setalvad an absconding accused in its chargesheet against the other accused when she was very much available. The court also asked why the police sent summons to Setalvad as she has been named absconding. Jani replied that it is not prohibited under the law.

Jaiswal said the very act of naming Setalvad an absconding accused proved the government’s malafide intention and that she would withdraw her quashing plea, but the summon has to be stayed. The case relates to the exhumation of 28 unidentified bodies of the riot victims of Panderwada and the surrounding villages — buried by the local authorities in a wasteland near Panam river in March 2002 — in December 2006 without permission. The accused were slapped with various charges under IPC, including inciting religious feelings of the people.



http://epaper.dnaindia.com/dnaahmedabad/epapermain.aspx?queryed=5&username=&useremailid=&parenteditioncode=5&eddate=5%2f26%2f2011

DNA 26MAY2011

Gujarat EDN

Exhumation case: HC reserves order

DNA Correspondent Ahmedabad

Justice GB Shah of the Gujarat high court on Wednesday reserved order on a petition filed by social activist, Teesta Setalvad, who has sought quashing of the complaint filed against her by the Godhra police in Pandarwada exhumation case.
Setalvad had filed the petition after she was summoned by the Godhra police for recording of her statement in connection with the incident. The state government stated before the high court that Setalvad was not cooperating with the investigating agencies in the matter.

Opposing Setalvad's plea, government pleader PK Jani contended that investigation in the case was still on. He further said that Setalvad was not cooperating with the investigating agencies. Jani said that she had not appeared before the investigating officer of the case despite several summons being issued to her. The government pleader further said that there was no bias against Setalvad who had already obtained anticipatory bail in the case.

Setalvad has been accused of conspiring to exhume the bodies of post-Godhra riot victims, in 2006, along with five other accused in the case who have given statements against her under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Setalvad's lawyer, Kamini Jaiswal, contended that the state's action against her client was mala fide and that she was neither involved in the act nor had encouraged it.



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TOI 25 MAY 2011

Gujarat EDN


‘Setalvad is being framed’


Mumbai: The Gujarat government came in for criticism for its shoddy handling of the 2002 Godhra riots from the ‘Committee for the Defence of Teesta Setalvad and Justice in Gujarat’. Retired SC judge P B Sawant, who heads the panel and Gujarat ex-CM Suresh Mehta said that harbingers of justice, like Setalvad, were being framed by corrupt government authorities.

Speaking at a press conference here, the panel addressed the charge of ‘absconding accused’ filed against Setalvad, secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP). Setalvad is an accused in the Pandharwada mass graves case. An affidavit has also been filed against her by Yasmeen Shaikh alleging Setalvad had influenced her to testify against Best Bakery case convicts. Supporting Setalvad, Mehta said, “She is being framed only to intimidate the people.” TNN



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Teesta Setalvad
'Nirant', Juhu Tara Road,
Juhu, Mumbai - 400 049