Indus Valley Times

NEW DELHI, JAN 19 : The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the petitions filed by all the convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case seeking additional time to surrender before jail authorities. The Supreme Court ordered all the 11 convicts to surrender before the jail authorities by January 21 as per the original deadline set by the court.

The Supreme Court said the reasons cited by the convicts seeking extension of time to surrender lacked merits, Live Law reported.

“The reasons cited by applicants to seek postponement of surrender and report back to jail have no merit in as much as those reasons in no way prevent them from complying with our directions,” a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said.

The court order came after several convicts filed applications citing varied reasons while seeking an extension of time to surrender before jail authorities. Some reasons given by the convicts were domestic responsibilities, son’s wedding, and winter harvest.

The convicts, after surrendering on Sunday, have the option of filing a review petition before the Supreme Court. They may also apply for fresh remission before the Maharashtra government, as the trial was held in the state.

BILKIS BANO CASE: WHAT SUPREME COURT HAD SAID

The Supreme Court, on January 8, had set aside the Gujarat government’s order allowing early release of the 11 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment for gangraping Bilkis Bano and murdering seven of her family members during the 2002 riots.

The Gujarat government had released the convicts on August 14, 2023, as per an outdated remission policy.

The government’s decision was challenged by various petitioners, including Bilkis Bano, before the Supreme Court.

Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped by 11 men while fleeing the riots in Gujarat that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident in 2002. Seven members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter, were also killed.

-PTI