The Supreme Court will be hearing today, pleas challenging remission granted to convicts in the Bilkis Bano rape case.
One of the public interest litigation has been filed by former CPI(M) leader Suhashini Ali, independent journalist and filmmaker Revati Laul, and former philosophy professor and activist Roop Rekh Varma while the other one has been filed by TMC MP Mahua Moitra.
This comes after the early release of 11 men convicted for gang-raping Bilkis Bano during the 2002 Gujarat riots and killing 14 members of her family by the top court in August of 2022.
“The release completely fails to bolster either social or human justice and does not constitute a valid exercise of the guided discretionary power of the State under Sections 432-435 Cr.P.C.,” LiveLaw quoted Moitra’s petition as saying.
The PIL further claimed that since the case was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Gujarat government was not in a position to grant remission without the Union government’s permission.
The TMC MP’s petition also raised concerns regarding the victim’s safety after the release of her convicts by calling the Gujarat government’s decision of granting remission a ‘wholesale release’ without looking at the particulars.
Further, Bilkis Bano had also moved the apex court against the release of 11 convicts in a case of gang rape and murder of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Advocate Shobha Gupta, representing Bilkis Bano, submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud that the writ petition was listed on December 13, but it was not taken up.
In the plea, Bano said the release of all the convicts came as a shock. The petition, filed through advocate Shobha Gupta, said: “The premature release of all the convicts came as a shock not only to the petitioner, to her grown-up daughters, to her family, but also to the society at large, nationally and internationally, and the society across segments had shown their anger, disappointment, distrust and protest to the clemency shown by the Government by releasing criminals like the 11 convicts of the case.”
On December 14, the Supreme Court had told the counsel, representing Bilkis Bano, that the plea for urgent listing should not be mentioned frequently, saying “it is very irritating”.
The bench told the counsel that the writ petition will be listed and added, “Don’t keep mentioning the same thing again and again. It is very irritating”. It further emphasized that the matter will be listed and asked the counsel to avoid mentioning the matter frequently.
Bilkis had also filed a review petition against the May 13, 2022 order by the Supreme Court, which allowed the Gujarat government to consider a remission plea by one of the convicts in terms of 1992 policy, however, the convicts were granted a release regardless.
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