New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday dismissed applications by convicts in the Bilkis Bano case to extend the 21 January deadline to surrender before jail authorities.
On 8 January, the top court had quashed the premature release granted last year by the Gujarat government to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape and murder case of 2002, and fixed 21 January as the date by when the convicts needed to surrender before jail authorities.
The convicts then moved court seeking more time to surrender, but the apex court said Friday that the reasons forwarded by them — health, surgery, son’s marriage and harvesting of crops — had no merit.
“The reasons cited by applicants to seek postponement of surrender and report back to jail have no merit inasmuch as those reasons in no way prevent them from complying with our directions,” the court reportedly said while dismissing the applications.
In recent discussions, the Supreme Court has been contemplating the permissibility of sub-classification within the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes categories, which could have implications for various legal interpretations and applications.
A bench of justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had heard multiple applications by the convicts after the 8 January verdict.
The 11 convicts who had been granted remission by the Gujarat government included Bakabhai Vohania, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Govind Nai, Jaswant Nai, Mitesh Bhatt, Pradeep Mordhiya, Radheshyam Shah, Rajubhai Soni, Ramesh Chandana and Shailesh Bhatt.
They were released by the Gujarat government in August, 2022, after being in prison for 14 years.
After Bano filed a petition challenging the state government’s decision, the top court quashed the remission order, ruling that the Gujarat government lacked jurisdiction to grant premature release to the convicts as the trial had been held in Maharashtra.
Also read: Bilkis Bano rape convicts not missing, in ‘deep introspection’, say families