Bilkis Bano Case: Supreme Court Overrules Gujarat Government Decision, Convicts Returns To Jail
The Supreme Court today overruled the Gujarat government”s decision to release 11 convicts who gangraped Bilkis Bano and was involved in the murder of 14 members of her family during 2002 Gujarat riot.
The court noted, “Gujarat government had no jurisdiction to entertain the application for remission or pass the orders as it was not the appropriate government”, reports indian express.
The Supreme Court order came after it heard Bilkis Bano“s request to cancel the remission given to the convicts. The court also added that no government can decide remission other than the one under which the case is filed. The state within whose territorial limits the offence was committed or the accused was imprisoned cannot also decide remission. Gujarat usurped the power vested in Maharashtra to pass orders of remission, the court said.
The Bilkis Bano case was moved to Maharashtra court from Gujarat to ensure free and fair proceedings. And thus only Maharashtra government will have the authority to grant the remission.
The bench comprising of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan observed that its May 2022 order directing Gujarat government to decide the remission was secured by suppressing facts and fraud played on court.
“The SC order of May 13, 2022 directing Gujarat govt to decide the remission as per 1992 policy being a nullify, all the proceedings in pursuance of the order stands vitiated,” the court pronounced.
In 2008, a trial court in Mumbai had sentenced 11 convicts for life. The Gujarat government on August 15, 2022 released the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case under its 1992 remission and premature release policy. One among the convict, Radheshyam Shah, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by CBI court in Mumbai in 2008, approached Supreme Court after completing 15 years and four months in jail.
Following the state government”s decision, after the release of the victims in 2022, Bilkis Bano responded by terming it as “one of the most gruesome crimes this country has ever seen” and added she was “shell shocked, completely numb…”.
