Teesta SETALVAD
Image Credit: Zuhairali/WikkiCommons
A writer and activist who has campaigned for the rights of women and marginalised communities, Teesta Setalvad remained on trial at the end of the year while subject to onerous bail conditions that curtailed her freedom of movement. She was detained on 25 June 2022 by Gujarat anti-terror police at her home in Mumbai. The detention was linked to allegations of ‘criminal conspiracy’ and ‘forging evidence’, related to her long-standing efforts to seek government accountability for the 2002 Gujarat Riots, during which hundreds of people were killed in inter-communal violence. Setalvad has alleged that she was assaulted by two officers when she requested to speak with her lawyer.
Her detention came one day after the Supreme Court rejected a plea submitted by Setalvad and co-petitioner Zakia Jafri seeking to reopen investigations into the possible involvement of local government officials in the Gujarat Riots. Setalvad was released on interim bail on 2 September 2022 and formally charged on 20 September 2022 under Sections 194, 218, and 468 of the Indian Penal Code for alleged ‘fabrication of evidence’. On 19 July 2023, the Supreme Court granted her bail.
In October 2023, Delhi Police’s Special Cell searched Setalvad’s home and seized her phone without a warrant. At the same time, mass raids were carried out against journalists and contributors associated with the independent news outlet NewsClick (see Prabir Purkayastha above and Case Lists 2022-2025). Setalvad has continued her activism despite her persecution. Most recently, in December 2025, she led protests in Mumbai against the persecution of India’s Christian community.
Born on 9 February 1962, Teesta Setalvad is one of India’s most high-profile human rights defenders. She began her career in journalism in the early 1980s, writing for The Daily, The Indian Express, and Business India. Following the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid, she left mainstream journalism to found Communalism Combat, a monthly magazine that examined religious intolerance and the role of political actors in fomenting inter-religious conflict. In 2017, Setalvad published her memoir, Foot Soldier of the Constitution.
Image Credit: Zuhairali/WikkiCommons