Who is Teesta Setalvad? Activist, Journalist Detained By Anti-Terrorism Squad In Mumbai

Teesta Setalvad, the activist and journalist, was detained by the Gujarat anti-terrorism squad (ATS) in Mumbai. Setalvaad was apprehended by the Gujarat ATS in connection to a case on her NGO.

Setalvad, who is also secretary of the organisation Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), an organisation formed to advocate for victims of the 2022 Gujarat riots, was detained for allegedly giving false information to the Special Investigation Team regarding the riots.

Her arrest comes a day after the Indian Supreme Court acquitted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, other politicians and government officials for their alleged complicity in the 2002 communal riots.

Who Is Teesta Setalvad?

• Teesta Setalvad is the daughter of Atul Setalvad, a lawyer, and his wife Sita Setalvad. Her grandfather was MC Setalvad, India’s first Attorney General.
• Setalvad graduated from Bombay University with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and began working as a journalist.
• She worked for The Daily (India) and The Indian Express newspapers and reported for the Mumbai editors of the newspapers. She later worked at Business India
• She covered the 1984 riots in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra. In 1993, after the Hindu-Muslim riots in Mumbai, she and her husband Javed Anand quit their jobs and started a monthly magazine titled Communalism Combat.
• Setalvad and Anand set up the NGO alongside Javed Akhtar, Vijay Tendulkar, Anil Dharker, and Rahul Bose.
• In 2002, she testified at the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom against the BJP-led government’s role in the Gujarat riots.
• The NGO CJP and Zakia Jafri filed a petition seeking a criminal trial against Modi, who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat during the Gujarat riots, and 62 politicians and government officials.
• Setalvad received the Nuremberg International Human Rights Award in 2003. In her acceptance speech, she spoke about her work, the magazine Communalism Combat, and civil rights. She said “The language of fascism and its glorification of violence and extermination have deeply disfigured Indian public life. We struggle today against it reaching a crescendo.”

Suggested Reading: Who is Zakia Jafri? Woman Who Challenged Investigation Of 2002 Gujarat Riots