Overview
- Teesta Setalvad’s plea to get her passport back was disposed of Wednesday, with the Supreme Court saying it will consider release only after she files a final foreign travel itinerary.
- The court allowed her to submit a fresh application for any trip and said it would hear such requests quickly, adding it will issue directions to help with passport renewal when it becomes due.
- Her passport stays with the Gujarat sessions court under bail terms set on July 19, 2023, which also bar her from tampering with evidence or contacting witnesses and let police seek bail cancellation for any breach.
- A three-judge bench of Justices Dipankar Datta, Satish Chandra Sharma, and Alok Aradhe handled the matter and declined a blanket return of the document without specific travel details.
- The case stems from allegations that documents were fabricated in the 2002 Gujarat riots litigation, and the court has earlier permitted tightly limited foreign trips, including to Amsterdam and Malaysia, under strict conditions.