Teesta Setalvad

Cases

Relevant SG report

From Country

Country Geolocation

Latitude: 20.593684

Longitude: 78.96288

From Region

UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report

Individual's/organization's activity: Secretary of the organization Citizens for Justice and Peace, a Mumbai-based non-governmental organization.

Type of rights defended

Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?: No

Reported trigger of reprisal: Letters copied to OHCHR voicing concern regarding the lack of protection by the Team for witnesses and victims of the Gulbarg Society Massacre.

Engagement with UN body

Type of attempted engagement

Reprisal information: On 20 January 2011, Justices D.K. Jain, P. Sathasivam and Aftab Alam, the Supreme Court judges handling the case surrounding the Gujarat riots of February 2002, reportedly reprimanded Ms. Setalvad for sending copies of the above-mentioned letters dated 5 and 7 October 2010 to OHCHR. The court allegedly did not “appreciate” letters about the proceedings being sent to OHCHR and viewed such activity as interference in these proceedings. On 17 February 2011, Ms. Setalvad was again allegedly issued with a verbal warning against writing to OHCHR by Justices D. K. Jain, P. Sathasivam and Aftab Alam. Ms. Jaiswal, Ms. Setalvad’s lawyer,was allegedly told that her client had to promise not to send any further communication to OHCHR on information regarding the proceedings

Types of reprisals suffered

Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?: No

Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?: No

Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?: No

Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?: No

Follow up information provided in SG report 0: 41.The case of Teesta Setalvad, Secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace, which provides legal support to the victims of the Gulbarg Society massacre, was mentioned in the 2011 report on cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights.57 A reply was received on 27 July 2011, in which the Government stated that it had examined the matter and it would be inappropriate to comment since the matter was sub judice.58 On 4 January 2014, officials from the Gujarat Crime Branch reportedly filed a First Information Report against Ms. Setalvad and Javeed Anand, editor of the magazine Communalism Combat, allegedly for embezzlement of a large sum of money provided for the construction of the Gulbarg Society massacre memorial. They were subsequently charged with several offences including criminal conspiracy. On 10 January 2014, Ms. Setalvad and Mr. Anand were reportedly granted interim bail by the Bombay High Court, which observed that Ms. Setalvad had been falsely implicated in the past. The hearing was reportedly adjourned to 23 April 2014.59 At the time of finalization of the present report, no reply had been received from the Government to a joint communication sent on 11 April 2014 by three special procedures mandate holders

Was this case followed up by a UN body? 0