Justice Joseph-led Bench to hear Bilkis Bano’s petition against premature release of her rapists
New Delhi, March 24
The Supreme Court will hear on March 27 petitions challenging the premature release of 11 men convicted of raping her and killing her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
A Bench of Justice KM Joseph and Justice BV Nagarathna will hear the petitions filed by several political and civil rights activists, and a separate writ petition filed by Bano.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had on Wednesday agreed to constitute a special bench to hear the matter.
Earlier, Justice Bela M Trivedi had on January 4 recused herself from hearing petitions against the premature release of convicts in the case.
Apart from Bano’s petition, there were other petitions filed by CPI-M leader Subhashini Ali, journalist Revati Laul, Lucknow University’s former Vice Chancellor Roop Rekha Verma, and TMC MP Mahua Moitra challenging the premature release of the convicts.
Lawyers representing the convicts had contended before a Bench led by Justice Ajay Rastogi that the PIL petitioners didn’t have locus standi in the matter. However, the Bench had noted that after the victim has herself filed a petition, the question of locus standi should not arise.
The Supreme Court had earlier dismissed Bilkis Bano’s petition seeking review of its verdict asking the Gujarat government to consider the petitions for remission of sentences and pre-mature release of 11 men convicted of raping her and killing her family members in 2002.
However, her separate petition challenging the remission of the sentences of the 11 convicts by the state government is pending before the Supreme Court.
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 said to have been released due to completion of 15 years in prison, besides their age and behaviour during incarceration.
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 Supreme Court had handed over the probe to the CBI and the trial was shifted to Mumbai where a Sessions Court in 2008 convicted 11 accused of gangrape and murder and awarded life imprisonment to them. Later, the conviction was upheld by the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court.
