On Tuesday, two petitions were submitted to the Supreme Court contesting the Gujarat government’s remission order, which freed 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case. One of the petitions was submitted by TMC leader Mahua Moitra.
The CPI(M) leader Subhasini Ali, independent journalist and filmmaker Revati Laul, and former philosophy professor and activist Roop Rekh Varma together filed another petition, while Moitra filed a public interest litigation (PIL) through attorney Shadan Farasat.
The Gujarat government’s contentious decision to release the 11 prisoners who were convicted for the gangrape of Bano and the murder of 14 of her family members, including her three-year-old daughter, during the Gujarat riots in 2002 was the subject of both petitions that were filed with the Supreme Court on August 15.
The 11 convicts who were granted premature release are Jaswantbhai Nai, Govindbhai Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radheshyam Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt, and Ramesh Chandana.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and Advocate Aparna Bhat presented the case of Ali and others before a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana, Justices Hima Kohli and CT Ravikumar, requesting that the case be heard promptly on August 24.
CJI Ramana consented to investigate the situation, but no order for the hearing has yet been made.
The 11 accused were found guilty of the murder in 2008 and given life sentences by a sessions court in Mumbai. Later, the conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court.
The 11 men were given life sentences in 2008, and retired Justice UD Salvi stated on August 18 that its remission sets a “very dangerous precedent.”
“It has created a really bad precedent. This is incorrect, in my opinion. Convicted individuals in other gang rape cases will now request the same relief,” According to a remark from him in Bar and Bench.
“The verdict was rendered many years ago. The government is in control of it at this time. A choice must be made by the state. The court in question or a higher court should decide whether it is correct or not, according to Justice Salvi.
The Gujarat government issuing such an order at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is appealing with Indians to respect women more, he added, he found amusing.
On 3 March, 2002, Bilkis Bano’s family was attacked by a mob at Randhikpur village in Limkheda taluka of Dahod district during the post-Godhra riots. Bilkis, who was five months pregnant at that time, was gang-raped and 14 members of her family were killed.
Riots had erupted in Gujarat following the burning of a Sabarmati Express coach that killed 59 ‘karsevaks’ on 27 February 2002. The violence had claimed the lives of 1,044 people, mostly Muslims, across different parts of the state. The central government had informed the Rajya Sabha in May 2005 that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed in the post-Godhra riots.
