SC to hear Bilkis Bano’s plea challenging premature release of 11 convicts on Dec 13
NEW DELHI, DEC 10: The Supreme Court will consider Bilkis Bano’s plea on December 13. The plea challenges the release of 11 convicts who walked free on August 15, 2022 when the country was celebrating its 76th Independence Day. The pleas will be heard by a bench of Justice Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi.
Bilkis was gang raped by a mob during the Godhra riots in Gujarat when she was 20 years and five months pregnant.
Bilkis in her writ petition wherein she has challenged their remission and premature release has termed Gujarat government’s remission order as “mechanical”.
Contending that the paper for “premature release” of the convicts was not shared with her despite reminders, the petition says, “SC already declared that en masse remissions are not permissible and that remission cannot be sought or granted as a matter of right of the convict without examining the case of each convict individually based on their peculiar facts and role played by them in the crime.”
“That when the nation was celebrating its 76th Independence Day, all the convicts were released prematurely and were garlanded and felicitated in full public glare and sweets were circulated and this is how she along with the entire nation and the whole world came to know about the shocking news of premature release of all the convicts of one of the most gruesome crime this country has ever seen,” the writ petition also states.
Apart from Bilkis, women’s rights activists including Subhashini Ali have also challenged the release of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case. The plea challenging the remission becomes significant against the backdrop of Gujarat government as well as the accused (RadheyShyam) questioning the locus of the women rights activists challenging their release.
Bilkis has also sought review of Top Court’s May 13 order passed by the bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath wherein the court while considering a writ by one of the convicts RadheyShyam had directed the Gujarat government to consider releasing him on the basis of Gujarat government’s 1992 Remission policy within two months. The 1992 policy did not prohibit the remission of rape, gang rape or murder convicts. The review plea is yet to be listed.
Earlier, a bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud had said that he would examine the issue of whether both pleas can be heard together and if the same can be heard before the same bench.
It has been argued in the review petition that Bilkis who is the victim was not even made a party in one of the convicts, states RadheyShyam’s plea before the SC. With regards to the delay in filing the review petition, the plea says, “took enormous efforts and time for the present review petitioner- victim of one of the most gruesome and inhuman communal hate crime this country has ever witnessed, to collect courage and regroup herself to decide to hold the baton once again, after just getting over with the extremely excruciating 17 years long drawn legal battle in ensuring that her culprits are punished for the egregious crime they had committed.”
Seeking listing of the plea in “open court”, she has stated that the “appropriate government” to consider the application of the remission of the convicts is the State of Maharashtra and not the State of Gujarat.
The Gujarat government in its 477-page affidavit had told the SC that the state decided to release the 11 convicts on completion of their 14 years of the sentence as their “behaviour was found to be good” after approval from the central government.
It also added that the opinions of the Inspector General of Prisons, Gujarat State, Jail Superintendents, Jail Advisory Committee, District Magistrate, Police Superintendent, CBI, Special Crime Branch, Mumbai and Hon. Sessions Court, Mumbai (CBI) were considered. The state also asserted that third-party strangers were precluded from questioning a remission order passed by the State government which is strictly in accordance with the law.
-TNIE
