1dec11

08, May 2017

December
1, 2011

CourtÂ’s debunk allegations against Teesta Setalvad

One would have
thought that the job of a newspaper is not simply that of a post
office but to provide credible information to its readers. Several
newspapers have reported that Rais Khan, a former employee of
Citizens for Justice and Peace has filed an affidavit in the Supreme
Court accusing the organisation’s secretary, Teesta Setalvad, and
lawyer Suhail Tirmizee of doctoring affidavits of victim-witnesses
in the Supreme Court supervised trial of five major carnage cases in
Gujarat in 2002. That this is newsworthy is not in question. But
should not the report also have reminded readers that in two of
these five cases the court has given its verdicts — Best Bakery
(March 2006) and Sardaparura (November 2011) — and in BOTH cases
the exoneration of Teesta Setalvad are part of the judicial
pronouncements? In the Best Bakery case, Zahira Shaikh was even sent
to jail by the Supreme Court when a committee appointed by it
concluded that her charges against Teesta Setalvad (similar to those
levelles against her by Rais Khan now) were totally baseless”. As
reported by prominent national dailies, the court order in the
Sardaparpura case, too, fully endorses the role of Teesta Setalvad
and Citizens for Justice and Peace in the justice process.