Top court dismisses plea of two convicts in Bilkis Bano case

New Delhi, July 19

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a petition filed by two of the 11 life convicts in the Bilkis Bano case against its January 8 verdict cancelling their remission.

“What is this plea? How is this plea maintainable? This is absolutely misconceived. How can an Article 32 petition be filed? We can’t sit in appeal over an order passed by another Bench,” a Bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna said.

As the Bench was not inclined to entertain the plea, advocate Rishi Malhotra, representing convicts Radheyshaym Bhagwandas Shah and Rajubhai Babulal Soni, chose to withdraw the petition. Shah has also sought interim bail.

The two convicts had moved the top court in March, contending that the January 8 verdict cancelling remission of their sentence went against a 2002 Constitution Bench judgment and demanded that the issue be referred to a larger Bench for “final” adjudication.

Lodged in Godhra sub-jail after the top court verdict, Shah and Soni said an “anomalous” situation had arisen wherein two different coordinate Benches had taken diametrically opposite views on the same issue of premature release as well as on which policy of the state government would apply to the petitioners for remission.

While one Bench on May 13, 2022, categorically ordered the Gujarat Government to consider Shah’s application for premature release in terms of the state government’s remission policy of July 9, 1992, another Bench on January 8, 2024 said it was Maharashtra and not the Gujarat Government that was competent to grant remission.

The Supreme Court on January 8 quashed the premature release of 11 men convicted of raping Bilkis Bano and killing seven of her family members during the 2002 post-Godhra riots, saying the Gujarat Government didn’t have the jurisdiction to deal with their remission pleas.