Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – The Trustees of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), an organisation working for human rights across India for more than 20 years, said the allegations levelled against prominent rights activist Teesta Setalvad for pursuing Gujarat riots cases are preposterous.
Setalvad, who is one of the Trustees and the Secretary of CJP, has been arrested by the Gujarat Police and is currently lodged in Sabarmati Women’s Prison, Ahmedabad.
“We strongly condemn the manner in which she was arrested and assaulted at the time of her arrest on 25.06.2022. We believe that case against Ms. Teesta Setalvad is completely false and she is being targeted for her work of helping the victims of the post-Godhra riots of 2002,” said the Trustees in a statement.
“We have gone through the FIR and also the affidavit filed in reply to the bail application filed by the State of Gujarat. The claims of the State of Gujarat that Ms. Teesta Setalvad has taken money from Mr. Ahmed Patel are preposterous. There was no conspiracy of any sorts that she had entered into as is being claimed,” the statement added.
The CJP said the sole aim of Setalvad was to seek justice for the victims of the post Godhra riots. Helping victims of riots cannot be termed as an offence or crime as has been made out in the FIR and the reply.
“Also, we do not believe that she has ever fabricated evidence or told any witness to speak anything but the truth. She has merely facilitated the process of justice for the victims. We stand by Ms. Teesta Setalvad, have full faith in the independent judiciary of the country and hope that Ms. Setalvad is not only released on bail at the earliest but the case against her is quashed,” the statement noted.
The Trustees are Cedric Prakash, Chitra Palekar, Dolphy D’Souza, Gulam M. Peshimam, Javed Anand, Raghu Nandan Maluste and Shakuntala Kulkarni
