'I was roughed up, abused': Activist Teesta Setalvad calls her arrest illegal
India Today
Activist Teesta Setalvad said that she was roughed up and abused by Gujarat ATS officials during her arrest. Setalvad was co-petitioner with Zakia Jafri in a petition filed against PM Modi and 63 others in Gujarat riots case.
Activist Teesta Setalvad, who was arrested by Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officials for allegedly fabricating evidence, committing forgery and criminal conspiracy, told the court that she was roughed up, abused and illegally detained.
Setalvad was detained in Mumbai's Juhu on Saturday after an FIR was registered against her at the Ahmedabad crime branch. She was produced at Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Ahmedabad today.
"The ATS [officials] barged into my house without any warrant. They snatched my phone, pushed and roughed me up. Look at the wound they inflicted. They came in at three and it was only after my lawyer [came] they showed me an FIR. Is arrest on the basis of an FIR legal? Why wasn't I served a notice? I was detained illegally from 3pm- 10.30am," Setalvad said in court.
READ | Teesta Setalvad exploited emotions of Zakia Jafri in Gujarat riots case, says SC
The FIR against Setalvad had come a day after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging the clean chit given by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in the 2002 Gujarat riots case.
"Why was I taken in a car by ATS from Mumbai to Gujarat? To intimidate me? To intimidate human rights lawyers is okay? This is abuse of power. My detention and arrest is illegal. I fear for my life. I have been roughed up, abused. Why should ATS be sent for what is a forgery case? Is this the new norm?" She asked.
She claimed that she should be given bail and called the case a politically motivated one.
