The celebratory mood in Gujarat's villages over the release of 11 rapists has turned somber with the Supreme Court verdict. For the Muslim families, the fear of reprisal has returned.
The Supreme Court has corrected its own egregious error from May 2022 that facilitated the release of Bilkis Bano's rapists and sent the 11 convicts back to prison.
Bench led by Justice BV Nagarathna quashes Gujarat govt's decision to allow remission of life imprisonment of convicts, rules state govt lacked jurisdiction to grant premature release.
SC bench said Gujarat govt lacked jurisdiction to grant premature release to the convicts since trial had been transferred to Maharashtra, fixed 2-week deadline for them to surrender before jail.
Bench said it was issuing direction for publication of notices in newspapers so that none of the convicts argue that they weren’t served or intimated about the case.
Bench was hearing Bilkis Bano's plea challenging Gujarat govt's remission order. Lawyers of 2 convicts sought adjournment claiming that Bano had filed a false affidavit.
Nick Jonas is not trying to modernise the mangalsutra, but his gesture shows that choices can be equal. If commitment must be flaunted, it need not be gendered.
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