Bilkis case: SC order on pleas tomorrow

New Delhi, January 6

The Supreme Court will on Monday pronounce its verdict on petitions challenging the premature release of 11 men convicted of raping Bilkis Bano and killing seven of her family members during the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.

The verdict will be pronounced by a Bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan, which had on October 12 last year reserved it after an 11-day hearing on the petitions, including the one by Bano. It had directed the Centre and the Gujarat Government to submit by October 16 the original records related to the remission of sentence of the convicts. The Bench had reserved its verdict after hearing arguments from Bilkis Bano’s counsel Shobha Gupta, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju for Gujarat Government, senior advocate Indira Jaising and advocates Vrinda Grover for PIL petitioners, and senior advocate Sidharth Luthra and Rishi Malhotra for the convicts.

The Gujarat Government had defended the premature release of 11 men convicted of raping Bilkis Bano and killing her family members during the 2002 riots, saying the convicts were entitled to reformation.

Bilkis Bano, pregnant at the time of crime, was gang-raped and her three-year-old daughter Saleha and 13 others were killed by a mob on March 3, 2002, in Dahod during violence that broke out in Gujarat after the Sabarmati Express was attacked in Godhra and 59 ‘kar sevaks’ were burnt to death.

The 11 convicts prematurely released were Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radhyesham Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt and Ramesh Chandana. They were released on August 15, 2022 due to completion of 15 years in prison, besides their age and behaviour during incarceration, it was said.

Besides the petition filed by Bilkis contesting the remission granted to them, several other PILs, including one by CPM leader Subhashini Ali, independent journalist Revati Laul and former VC of Lucknow University Roop Rekha Verma have challenged the remission.