The premature release of the 11 convicts has raised numerous questions on the nation’s definition of fairness and justice
The Bilkis Bano Case: The Supreme Court Issued Notice to Gujarat Government. The Supreme Court took notice of a plea challenging the Gujarat government’s decision to grant early release to 11 defendants serving life sentences for gang rape and murder in the Bilkis Bano case. The appeal contests the 11 prisoners’ August 15 release from jail in Godhra after their early remission. The Gujarat government had leaned on its 1992 remission policy to grant the early release requests.
What is the case?
On March 3, 2002, the 21-year-old Bilkis Bano who was five months pregnant was gang raped in Gujurat’s Randhikpur village, where seven members of her family including her three-year-old daughter were killed in the riots that erupted in Gujarat after the destruction of the Godhra train.
On January 21, 2008, a special CBI court in Mumbai was conducted where the 11 were condemned on the gang rape and murder charges to life in prison. Later both the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court upheld their conviction.
What happened in the Supreme Court today
The Supreme Court served notifications on the case’s respondents at the hearing on Thursday.
Chief Justice Ramana explained that the Supreme Court had only directed the Gujarat government to take their remission into consideration after seeing that it was being reported that the court had ordered the release of the prisoners. Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, had claimed on Tuesday that a Supreme Court judgment had led to the release of the criminals.
One of the petitioners’ attorneys, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, spoke in court about the difficulties Bano and her family encountered during the riots. But however, the court directed advocate Sibal to limit himself just to the matter of remission.
Further, a question was raised over the legal restriction on the issuance of remission to the convicted by a bench consisting of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justice Ajay Rastogi, and Justice Vikram Nath.
Justice Ajay Rastogi stated, “Whatever they have committed, they have been found guilty. “The issue is whether they have cause to think about remission. We would only be concerned if remission fell under legal bounds. Rastogi pointed out that life sentence inmates frequently receive pardons and inquired as to why this wasn’t the case in this instance.
The convict’s attorney then emphasized that they are not considered parties to the litigation. Sibal responded that the petitioners were contesting the Gujarat government’s decision to award remission when the court questioned him about it.
The court stated, “But they [the convicts] are affected,” and instructed Sibal to add them as parties to the case.
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 defendants found guilty in this case.
And Subhasini Ali, a former member of parliament for the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Revati Laul, a journalist, and Professor Roop Rekha Verma have all submitted the petition.
The Gujarat government’s decision to free the 11 convicts went against the judgment of the Mumbai trial court.
Raj Kumar, the Additional Chief Secretary for Home in Gujarat, said that the state ignored the trial court’s “negative view” on the remission appeal and decided to follow the recommendations of the jail advisory group. The 10 members of the jail advisory group were appointed by the government, five of whom are BJP office holders and two of whom are currently serving as MLAs.
Several civil rights organizations and activists have denounced the early release of the 11 inmates. According to a source, some of the inmates allegedly threatened witnesses in the case and went to political gatherings while on parole. The premature release of the 11 convicts has raised numerous questions on the nation’s definition of fairness and justice.
