Bilkis Bano Case: Supreme Court will hear plea opposing the release of convicts

• Image Credit: Prag News

• Aug 23, 2022 | Dhupali Das

On August 15, after a major outcry, the Gujarat government released all eleven convicts condemned to life imprisonment...

Digital Desk: The Supreme Court decided to take into account an appeal that challenged the remission of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case. A Public Interest Litigation filed by Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politburo Member Subhashini Ali, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, and one other petitioner was heard by the Supreme Court.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal (appearing on behalf of Ms. Ali) and Abhishek Singhvi (appearing on behalf of Ms. Moitra), as well as lawyer Aparna Bhat, made arguments against the granting of remission and the subsequent release of the defendants in the case before a bench presided over by Chief Justice NV Ramana.

"We are simply contesting the remission, not the Supreme Court's decision. My Lords, the Supreme Court's ruling is acceptable. "We are contesting the principles upon which the remission was granted," Sibal said.

On August 15, after a major outcry, the Gujarat government released all eleven convicts condemned to life imprisonment under its remission policy. Videos of them being garlanded and given sweets sparked outrage on social media.

On January 21, 2008, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mumbai sentenced the eleven convicts to life imprisonment on the charges of gang rape and the murder of seven Bilkis Bano family members. The Bombay High Court later upheld their conviction.

Bilkis Bano, who was pregnant at the time, was gang-raped, and her three-year-old daughter Saleha was among 14 people killed by a mob on March 3, 2002, in Dahod, during the violence that erupted across the state following the attack on the Sabarmati Express in Godhra, which killed 59 passengers, mostly 'kar sewaks.'

Jaswantbhai Nai, Govindbhai Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radhesham Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt, and Ramesh Chandana are the 11 prisoners who were given early release.

After serving more than 15 years in prison, one of the prisoners petitioned the Supreme Court for an early release.

The Gujarat government constituted a committee after the top court ordered it to investigate the possibility of reducing his sentence.