The Supreme Court has extended “until further orders” its protection for rights defender Teesta Setalvad from arrest, disclosing in the process that a judge had pulled himself away while watching a dance on Saturday evening so that he could hear the matter in the top court that convened after 9pm.

Justice B.R. Gavai, heading the bench, cited his weekend experience in a lighter vein while saying on Wednesday that the matter would be heard again on July 19 and both prosecution and the accused would be given an hour each to present their arguments.

“We want to decide and end it that day only,” Justice Gavai said, adding: “That day (the July 1 special hearing) we had to leave a dance performance and come for this case!”

Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta said he missed his dinner because of the late-night hearing.

The apex court issued notice to the Gujarat government on Setlavad’s plea challenging the high court’s refusal to grant her regular bail.

The Supreme Court had convened past 9pm on July 1, in the midst of vacation and on a Saturday which is a court holiday, to shield Setalvad from arrest. A three-judge bench of Justices Gavai, A.S. Bopanna and Dipankar Datta had stayed for a week the Gujarat High Court order rejecting her plea for regular bail and asking her to surrender immediately in a case of alleged fabrication of evidence in some of the 2002 riot cases.

On July 1, the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court had said that even an ordinary criminal was entitled to some form of interim relief.

On Wednesday, the apex court bench of Justices Gavai and Bopanna agreed to the adjournment request of additional solicitor-general S.V. Raju, appearing for the Gujarat government, and said it was extending the interim bail granted to Setalvad on July 1. Raju had sought time to submit in court English translations of certain documents relating to the case.

When Raju stated that there was a “tendency on the part of the accused to have the interim protection continued”, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Setalvad, countered by saying it was the government that had sought an adjournment, not the accused.

The bench said: “List the case on July 19, 2pm, for hearing. One hour for this side and one hour for the respondent. Issue notice, returnable on July 19. All documents to be filed before July 15 after giving copies to the other side. Interim protection to continue until further orders.”