Supreme Court dismisses plea by convicts seeking extension in time to surrender in Bilkis Bano case

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, January 19

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed applications filed by 11 men convicted of gang-raping Bilkis Bano and killing seven of her family members during the 2002 riots seeking additional time to surrender.

“The reasons cited by applicants to seek postponement of surrender and report back to jail have no merit inasmuch as those reasons in no way prevent them from complying with our directions,” a Bench led by Justice NV Nagarathna said, dismissing their pleas.

The Bench had on January 8 quashed the remission granted to them by the Gujarat government and ordered them to surrender before the jail authorities concerned in two weeks.

After Friday’s order, all 11 convicts — Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt and Ramesh Chandana will now have to surrender by January 22.

The convicts had sought extension of the deadline to surrender on grounds varying from failing health, impending surgery and son’s marriage to harvesting crops.

They were released on August 15 last year due to completion of 15 years in prison, besides their age and behaviour during incarceration.

The Supreme Court on January 8 quashed the premature release of the 11 convicts in the case, saying the Gujarat government didn’t have the jurisdiction to deal with their remission pleas.

Ruling that the “appropriate government” to consider their remission pleas was the Government of Maharashtra where the trial took place, the Bench had said, “The Government of the state of Gujarat had usurped the powers of the state of Maharashtra which only could have considered the applications seeking remission. Hence, the doctrine of usurpation of powers applies in the instant case.”

The top court had slammed the Gujarat government for being “complicit” and acting in tandem with one of the convicts and usurpation of powers not vested in it in granting remission to the convicts.

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.