AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat government on Tuesday filed a petition in the
Supreme Court
seeking a review of its order on Bilkis Bano's plea for revocation of remission the state had granted to 11 convicts and urged the apex court to expunge "unwarranted" remarks made against it.
The state government has taken exception to what it felt was the "extreme observation" made by the SC about it that "the state of Gujarat acted in tandem and was complicit with Respondent No3/accused". It has submitted that the remark made in its January 8 judgment "is not only unwarranted and against the record of the case, but has caused serious prejudice to the petitioner-state of Gujarat".
In its judgment on January 8, the SC had remarked that it failed to understand why the state of Gujarat did not file a review petition seeking correction in its order passed in May 2022. tnn
Guj govt cites nine grounds in petition
Had Gujarat govt brought it to the SC's notice that it was not the "appropriate government" to take a decision of remission about 11 life convicts in the 2002 Bilkis Bano rape case, the ensuing litigation could have been avoided. The apex court said that Gujarat govt usurped the power of Maharashtra govt in deciding on release of the convicts because the trial was conducted in a
CBI
court in Maharashtra.
The state govt has clarified in its review petition that it was acting according to the SC order passed in May 2022, in which the government was directed to consider the remission application of one of the convicts.
Gujarat govt has urged the SC to remove the remark by reviewing its order and cited nine grounds to state that the apex court has erred in making the remark by not appreciating correct facts of the case. It has clarified that through the superintendent of
Godhra
sub jail, where the convicts were lodged, it sought the opinions of all the authorities including the Mumbai court, which conducted the trial, and the SP. The proposal was sent to Maharashtra govt in November 2011. But it received no response. The SC in January had overturned the Gujarat government's decision to grant early release to 11 convicts in the 2002 gang-rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of seven of her family members during the communal riots in the state.
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