SC will hear Bilkis Bano’s challenging early release of 11 rape convicts

Bano is also seeking a review of apex court’s 13 May order that Gujarat had jurisdiction to decide on convicts’ remission plea even though trial had taken place in Maharashtra.

File photo of a protest against the remission of the sentences of the convicts in the Bilkis Bano case | ANI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is slated to hear on 13 December  Bilkis Bano’s petition challenging the premature release of the 11 individuals who had been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for gangraping her and murdering her family during the 2002 Gujarat riots. 

Bano is also seeking a review of the apex court’s May 2022 order that the Gujarat government had the jurisdiction to decide on the convicts’ remission plea despite the fact that they were tried in Maharashtra. 

“The writ petition challenging the remission is listed Tuesday. The matter is listed before a bench comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M. Trivedi as item number 38. The review petition is tentatively to be taken up on Monday,” Live Law reported. 

The development comes more than a week after Bano, represented by advocate Shobha Gupta, had approached the Supreme Court with a review petition in the case. 

What happened in the case 

A special CBI court in Mumbai had sentenced the 11 convicts to life imprisonment in 2008. The sentence was later upheld by the Bombay High Court. 

After having spent more than 15 years in jail, the 11 convicts had been released on Independence Day this year on account of “good behaviour” as part of the Gujarat government’s 1992 remission policy, which pertains to early release of convicts who have served at least 14 years on or after 18 December 1978. 

The usage of the remission policy had proved to be controversial, as Godhra Bharatiya Janata Party legislator C.K. Raulji referred to the convicts as “Brahmins” having “good sanskaar” (good values). Moreover, the Gujarat government was criticised for using an “older” remission policy over the more recent 2014 remission policy, under which rape and murder convicts are not eligible for remission. 

As ThePrint previously reported, the 1992 policy was considered after one of the 11 convicts, Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah aka Lala Vakil, approached the apex court in March 2022 seeking a direction to the Gujarat government to consider early release. Although the Gujarat government told the apex court that his application for early release should be filed before the Maharashtra government because the trial had concluded in that state, the apex court bench that comprised Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath ruled otherwise. 

In its 13 May order, the court held that since the crime had been committed in Gujarat and ordinarily, the trial would have been conducted in Gujarat, it’s the Gujarat government that should consider the application of the convicts. 

The court also said that their application would be considered under the state government’s 1992 policy for state remission and premature release of prisoners because premature release needs to be considered on the basis of the policy prevalent on the date of the conviction.

(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)