TEESTA TO FACE TRIAL FOR ILLEGAL EXHUMATION OF 28 BODIES
Trouble mounted for social activist Teesta Setalvad after the Supreme Court on Monday directed her to face trial in a case involving her role in the illegal exhumation of about 28 bodies, who were victims of the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
Teesta had approached the apex court against the Gujarat High Court's May 27 order refusing to quash the FIR related to the case. The Gujarat Police had maintained status quo considering the pendency of the case before the apex court. On Monday, the bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy thought it fit to dispose the appeal filed by Teesta, granting her the liberty to approach the trial court where the charge-sheet was filed.
The apex bench said, "Why can't you (Teesta) go and raise all these questions before the trial court where the charge sheet is pending." Senior counsel Kapil Sibal who appeared for Teesta along with advocate Aparna Bhatt said that though the charge sheet has been filed, no offence has been made out against her in the case.
It was alleged that at Teesta's instance, about 28 unidentified riot victims were illegally exhumed at a graveyard near river Panam. The bodies belonged to Pandarwada and surrounding villages of Khanpur taluka of Panchmahal district.
A criminal complaint was filed almost four years later when Rais Khan, a close associate of Teesta-run NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), spilled the beans pointing fingers at Teesta for exhuming the bodies without seeking permission from the district or state administration.
Although the Gujarat High Court had initially stated further investigation into the case, the stay was lifted by a separate order passed by the HC, reviving the probe that led to issuance of arrest warrants against the social activist and other members of her NGO CJP.
The Gujarat government maintained that Teesta actually planned and executed the digging of the graves without any permission in 2006. The government had alleged that the other accused have claimed innocence and blamed Setalvad for instigating them to carry out the exhumation, which is a penal offence.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/teesta-to-face-trial-for-illegal-exhumation-of-28-bodies.html
