Gujarat HC judge recuses himself from hearing Teesta Setalvad's plea seeking quashing of FIR
Ahmedabad, Aug 3: Justice Samir Dave of the Gujarat High Court on Thursday recused himself from hearing a plea filed by social activist Teesta Setalvad seeking quashing of an FIR filed against her by the Ahmedabad crime branch for allegedly fabricating evidence in the 2002 riots cases.
When the matter came up for hearing, Justice Dave said, "Not before me."
Now, the chief justice of the high court will allot the case to a new judge.
Last month, a sessions court had rejected Setalvad's discharge plea in the case, even as the Supreme Court granted her bail after the Gujarat High Court denied relief to her.
She then moved a plea seeking quashing of the FIR in the Gujarat High Court.
Setalvad and two others - former state Director General of Police R B Sreekumar and former Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt - were arrested by the city crime branch in June 2022 on charges of forgery and fabricating evidence with the intent to implicate the Gujarat government functionaries in the 2002 riots cases.
A first information report (FIR) was registered against them after the Supreme Court last month dismissed the plea filed by Zakia Jafri, whose husband and former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was killed during the riots.
Setalvad was booked under sections 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 194 (giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), among others.
The state government, during a hearing in the sessions court earlier, had alleged that Setalvad drafted affidavits in the names of victims to implicate innocent persons including the then chief minister (now Prime Minister Narendra Modi), senior officers, and ministers.
Zakia Jafri's plea alleged a "larger conspiracy" behind the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat involving the then chief minister Narendra Modi. The court upheld the SIT's clean chit to Modi and 63 others.
In its judgment, the Supreme Court observed, "At the end of the day, it appears to us that a coalesced effort of the disgruntled officials of the State of Gujarat along with others was to create sensation by making revelations which were false to their own knowledge."
"The falsity of their claims had been fully exposed by the SIT after a thorough investigation...As a matter of fact, all those involved in such abuse of process need to be in the dock and proceed in accordance with law."
Ehsan Jafri was among the 68 people killed at Ahmedabad's Gulberg Society during violence on February 28, 2002, a day after the Godhra train burning that claimed 59 lives.
The riots that it triggered killed 1,044 people, mostly Muslims. Giving details, the Central government informed the Rajya Sabha in May 2005 that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed in the post-Godhra riots.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
French Open prize money up 10% to $72 million overall
Paris (AP): French Open prize money has increased by about 10% for an overall pot of 61.7 million euros ($72.1 million).
The total amount is up 5.3 million euros from last year. Play begins on Sunday, May 24 at Roland Garros in western Paris.
Men's and women's singles champions each receive 2.8 million euros and the runners-up 1.4 million euros. Semifinalists earn 750,000 euros and first round losers get 87,000 euros.
Men's and women's doubles winners pocket 600,000 euros and the mixed doubles champions get 122,000 euros.
Last year, Carlos Alcaraz staged an epic comeback to beat Jannik Sinner in a five-set final and Coco Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka for the women's title.
There will be an opening ceremony before the men's and women's finals, lasting about six minutes, with French choreographer Benjamin Millepied in charge of the program.
Also for the first time, players can wear data-collecting portable devices on court in order to gain information on their physical performances, tournament director Amélie Mauresmo said at a news conference on Thursday.
Privacy for playersMauresmo repeated the importance of privacy for players — an issue raised by Iga Swiatek and Gauff at this year's Australian Open.
Gauff's racket-smashing away from the court went viral. Swiatek said the seemingly limitless access-all-areas cameras that track players made them feel they were being watched like “animals in the zoo.”
Without mentioning the Australian Open itself, Mauresmo said tennis should “maintain respect for privacy” and have a secluded space.
“Players need a private area, something which will not change,” she said. “No cam access (there).”
Upholding traditionsThis year, a local amateur beat Sinner and went on to become a millionaire in Australian dollars after winning the newly invented 1 Point Slam at the Australian Open.
Don't expect it at the French Open.
“Our ambition is not to repeat everything that's done elsewhere," Mauresmo said. "This is not something that corresponds to us, to the image of Roland Garros."
The French Open is also unflinching on the electronic line-calling adopted by Wimbledon and most big tennis tournaments; instead remaining committed to human line judges.
“They are not 100% reliable,” Mauresmo said, "but our decision was to stick to our way.”
However, Mauresmo was open to women playing five-set matches like their male counterparts.
“You can't change a format overnight to go from best of three to best of five. But if we think about it, would it be only the semifinal, the final, or for all matches?" the former Wimbledon champion asked. “This could be a win-win situation but we have to talk about this with the women players.”
The former women's No. 1 would have wanted to.
“As a player when I did the Masters final (in 2005) they had just stopped this,” Mauresmo said. "I would have wanted to do the final in best of five. So maybe one day, you never know.”
Mauresmo was also asked about scheduling for evening matches.
“We will talk about scheduling when the time comes,” she said without going into details. “Nothing is closed and nothing is set in stone, it depends on the draws and the lineups.”
Last year there were a lack of women's matches during the night sessions.
On the final Saturday there has been one change: The men's doubles final will be played before the women's singles final and not afterward.
Entertaining fansThere will be a Jardin des Chefs — a chefs' garden — for fans to sample French gastronomy in an area next to Court Simonne-Mathieu. A small army of 13 French chefs will work daily, three on duty each day.
The famed Concorde Square — with its iconic Egyptian Obelisk — will again show matches on a big screen for free during the second week from June 3-7.
The tournament will pay tribute to French veteran Gaël Monfils and 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka, who are retiring at the end of the season.
Clay is the wayThe French Open is synonymous with clay the way Wimbledon is with grass.
Keen to build on that identity, French Tennis Federation director Gilles Moretton said there will be a strong investment in building more clay courts, real or synthetic.
Clay courts currently make up only 13% of courts in France.
