Mumbai : Activist Teesta Setalvad, described controversially as “a risk to national security” by the CBI, has been granted anticipatory bail by the Bombay High Court.
Ms Setalvad and her husband, Javed Anand, have been accused of violating financial laws in connection with funding given to them by the US-based Ford Foundation, NDTV reported.
While granting bail to the couple, the court asked them to cooperate with the investigation and said, “It appears that there may be some kind of misuse of the amount”, pointing to early evidence of foreign exchange laws. However, the court stressed that it does not see “any threat to sovereignty and integrity of the state”.
The judge made strong remarks about “the right to have a different view” and said, “it is the duty of the state to protect the right to have a different view.”
Ms Setalvad, 53, has also been charged by the Gujarat police of embezzling funds donated to the non-profits she runs for victims of the communal riots that seared the state in 2002. She has denied any wrongdoing in all the cases brought against her, and claims that she is being persecuted for her legal attempts to hold Prime Minister Narendra Modi complicit in the violence. The Supreme Court has said there is no evidence that as Chief Minister at the time, Mr Modi did not do enough to stop the riots.
The CBI says its investigation is based on a complaint from the Home Ministry and that the sum involved is over 1 crore rupees ($160,000).
Amid a crackdown on foreign charities, the Home Ministry put the $12.5 billion Ford Foundation on a watch list this year. The PM has also criticized what he called “five-star activists.