The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to activist Teesta Setalvad in the conspiracy case lodged against her for allegedly maligning the State of Gujarat and then Chief Minister Narendra Modi for their handling of the 2002 Gujarat riots

A special division bench of Justices BR Gavai, AS Bopanna and Dipankar Datta set aside a Gujarat High Court order which had refused bail to Setalvad.

The Court noted that the High Court had denied bail to Setalvad on the ground that Setalvad had not challenged the FIR and chargesheet under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) or articles 226 or 32 of the Indian Constitution.

Further, the Court directed that during her bail, passport will remain deposited with the trial court. She will not make any attempt to influence witnesses and will remain away from the witnesses who are mostly in Gujarat.

Earlier, in the event, she is found to violate this condition, the court allowed the Gujarat police to seek cancellation of bail by approaching the Supreme court.

Last year, in September,the Supreme Court had granted her interim bail on the ground that she is a lady and the case pertained to 2002 where most evidence is documentary.

Later, these conditions were found to be relevant and hence the court directed her to continue to remain out on bail.