Teesta Setalvad’s appeal against the rejection of her application for anticipatory bail by the Gujarat High Court is coming up before a Bench of the Supreme Court, other than the one which heard the case on 13th.   On 13th, the Bench comprising Justices S.J.Mukhopadhyaya and N.V.Ramana heard the case, and adjourned it for detailed hearing on 19th. Tomorrow’s cause list has listed the case under Court No.5 (Item 2), before Justices Dipak Misra and Adarsh Kumar Goel.  It appears that the Bench which heard the case on 13th has recused itself from hearing it.  With this change in the Bench, the chances of  Teesta Setalvad and her husband, Javed Anand securing the anticipatory bail from the Supreme Court have brightened up.  During the last one week, civil society has been busy campaigning against her custodial interrogation.  My article on the issues involved has appeared here, followed by another piece from Mumbai.   Prashant Bhushan has written a persuasive piece against custodial interrogation, where it is not warranted, in the Times of India today.

Update:  The composition of the Bench hearing this matter was changed at the behest of the Chief Justice on the administrative side, according to Times of India, and not because the previous Bench recused.