Narottam Mishra, the home minister for the state of Madhya Pradesh, urged on Tuesday that Teesta Setalvad’s ‘Padma Shri’ award be revoked. The Gujarat police recently detained Setalvad in connection with a case involving alleged evidence fabrication in the 2002 Gujarat riots. She will be in the Gujarat police’s custody until July 2.
When addressing the media, Narottam Mishra stated, ‘She was a member of the ‘Award vaapsi’ gang (those threatening to return awards). The award should be taken back from people like Teesta Setalvad, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s remarks against such people, whose conduct becomes questionable and have been arrested.’ However, he charged that Setalvad got the award because the previous Congress government was ‘appeasement of minorities’ by doing so.
Teesta Setalvad got the Padma Shri award, one of the highest civilian honours, from the UPA government at the time in 2007. Setalvad’s arrest came after the Supreme Court upheld the clean chit given by an Special Investigation Team (SIT) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riot case, and said those trying to ‘keep the pot boiling’ need to be in the dock.
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