New Delhi: Supreme Court on Friday deferred the hearing on the anticipatory bail plea of social activist Teesta Setalvad till February 19, in a case of alleged embezzlement of funds for a museum at Gulbarg society, devastated in the 2002 riots.
The court has also given protection from arrest to Setalvad and her husband till February 19.
A day ago, the apex court had stayed the arrest of Teesta Setalvad and her husband, soon after Gujarat High Court rejected their anticipatory bail plea.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal had orally mentioned about the imminent arrest of the couple, soon after Gujarat High Court rejected their anticipatory bail.
The couple had rushed to the apex court within an hour of the High Court dismissing their plea for a stay on its order to allow them time to move the Supreme Court.
Setalvad and her husband have been booked by the Crime Branch of Gujarat Police on charges of cheating, breach of trust and under the IT Act, in a matter relating to the construction of "Museum of Resistance" in the Gulbarg society in Ahmedabad which was hit by communal riot in 2002.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Manish Tewari said activist Teesta Setalvad had played an important role in exposing the perpetrators of Gujarat pogrom and bringing them to justice and added that the steps taken against her were out of a sense of political vendetta.
"The fact remains that Teesta Setalvad played a very seminal role in exposing the perpetrators of the Gujarat pogrom and bringing them to justice. It's quite obvious that whatever steps have been taken against her, they are out of a sense of political vendetta," Tewari said.
