Supreme Court on Monday said that the petition filed by Bilkis Bano challenging the early release of 11 convicts in the 2002 Gujarat Rape Case was 'maintainable. The top court quashed the Gujarat government's decision to grant remission to all convicts involved in the rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her family. It directed all 11 convicts to return to jail within two weeks and seek fresh remission from the Maharashtra government.
Supreme Court striking down the Gujarat government’s order said the exercise of power by the State of Gujarat is an instance of usurpation of power and abuse of power. It held that the State, where an offender is tried and sentenced, is competent to decide the remission plea of convicts. Supreme Court holds that the State of Gujarat was not competent to pass the remission orders of the convicts but the Maharashtra government was.
Supreme Court holds that the judgment of May 13, 2022 (which directed the Gujarat government to consider remission of convict) was obtained by "playing fraud" on the court and by suppressing material facts. The convicts had not approached the court with clean hands, says the Supreme Court.
Their conviction was upheld by the Bombay High Court in 2017. The case was probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the trial was shifted from Gujarat to Maharashtra.
“It is not the Govt of the State where the offence took place or the offenders are imprisoned which is the appropriate govt for remission, but the Govt of the State where the conviction took place,” said Justice Nagarathna.
Last year in October, a bench of judges comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan, reserved the verdict after holding hearings for 11 days in the case. Multiple pleas were filed challenging the remission, including one by Bilkis herself. Today, a 2-judge Supreme Court bench upheld Bilkis' petition.
The 11 convicts were sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in Mumbai (Maharashtra) in 2008. However, they were released early from jail in August last year. Their remission and release coincided with the 75th anniversary of India's independence which triggered massive outrage across India.
Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was raped while fleeing the horror of the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train-burning incident. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed in the riots.