Indian activist faces charges of fabricating evidence against Modi

NEW DELHI • An Indian human rights activist who spearheaded a campaign to hold officials responsible for deadly 2002 riots in the western state of Gujarat has been arrested and faces charges of fabricating evidence against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Activist Teesta Setalvad was detained by an anti-terrorism squad last Saturday in Mumbai and taken north to Gujarat state to face charges relating to a case brought against Mr Modi when he was the state's top official.

While he was never found responsible, for years Indians have asked whether Mr Modi could have curtailed or stopped the sectarian riots in which more than 1,000 people were killed.

Setalvad was detained after India's top court dismissed a petition that challenged Mr Modi's exoneration in the strife. Just before she was arrested, she was accused by India's Home Minister Amit Shah of feeding fraudulent information to police about the riots to tarnish Mr Modi's image.

Mr Shah noted in an interview with Asian News International that the top court's judgment mentioned Setalvad by name. The minister said her non-governmental organisation barraged police with complaints against Mr Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, "and the pressure by the media was so immense that every application was treated as truth".

One of the most horrific episodes of violence between Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat occurred at the Gulbarg Society, a Muslim housing project where a rumour encouraged by a Hindu leader set off a mob. Sixty-nine people were killed, including former Member of Parliament Ehsan Jafri who had offered refuge to Muslims, mostly women and children, threatened during the attack by thousands of Hindu men armed with stones, iron rods and petrol-soaked rags.

Despite Mr Jafri's repeated calls to influential people for help, he was hacked to pieces and burned.

In 2017, a court sentenced 11 men to life in prison for participating in the mob that set fire to the housing complex.

Mr Jafri's widow, Mrs Zakia Jafri, who is now 85, has fought a legal battle seeking to establish that the riots were the result of a high-level conspiracy involving Mr Modi.

The United States imposed a visa ban in 2005 to rebuke Mr Modi over the episode, although he has denied any role.

Setalvad has long supported Mrs Jafri and other victims of the sectarian carnage. It was Mrs Jafri who filed the petition against Mr Modi that was dismissed by India's Supreme Court last Friday.

Over the years, various government agencies have investigated Setalvad and her husband, Mr Javed Anand, saying they misappropriated funds meant for riot victims, among other accusations. A related case is pending in court.

The court's decision last week on Mr Modi's lack of culpability found no evidence of criminal conspiracy behind the mob violence against Muslims, effectively foreclosing any further legal challenge to the premier. But the three-judge panel went further in its judgment, accusing Setalvad of having "exploited the emotions of Zakia Jafri".

Just a day after that ruling and hours after Mr Shah's interview, a squad of officers took Setalvad into custody at her family's seaside compound in Juhu, an upscale suburb of Mumbai. Videos from Gujarat on Sunday showed Setalvad coming out of a court in Ahmadabad, Gujarat's largest city, with her left arm raised to highlight bruises that she said were caused by Gujarat police's anti-terrorism unit.

Setalvad filed a complaint against one officer, saying he had accosted her in her bedroom during her arrest when she demanded to speak to her lawyer. "Why are you pushing me?" she is heard telling the officer in a video posted on Twitter. "I am not a criminal."

NYTIMES