SC rejects plea to release TEESTA's passport, seeks travel itinerary
New Delhi, April 30 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed its disinclination to release the passport of social activist Teesta Setalvad insisting that as and when she submits an itinerary to travel abroad, her request for release of passport shall be considered.
Setalvad had deposited her passport with a trial court in Gujarat as part of a bail condition imposed by the top court in July 2023 while directing her release on bail in a case of alleged fabrication of evidence in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases.
Taking up the plea, a bench of justices Dipankar Datta, SC Sharma and Alok Aradhe said, "We will not allow the return of your passport like this. You can share your itinerary. For getting the passport, you have to make out a case."
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for Setalvad said that since the term of the passport has to be renewed next year, the petitioner was requiring the same. He further submitted that whenever she has to travel abroad, she requires the passport in time to process her visa and other formalities and since time is limited, getting a hearing on her application poses a challenge.
The bench said, "Since this is a question of fundamental rights (to travel abroad), we will certainly not delay," even as it pointed out the swiftness with which the three-judge bench was constituted to take up the present application.
Setalvad was granted regular bail by the top court on July 19, 2023 in the case involving the alleged fabrication of documents to frame innocent people in the post-Godhra riot cases.
The case against Setalvad was lodged after the top court rejected a plea by a plea by Zakia Jafri, widow of Ehsan Jafri on June 24, 2022....
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