10 months ago
16
In a massive breakthrough for Bilkis Bano, the Supreme Court today cancelled the Gujarat government's decision to release the 11 convicts who raped her and killed her family during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The Gujarat government was not competent to release the men, the Supreme Court said in its landmark order on a decision that triggered waves of condemnation and outrage from the civil society, activists and opposition politicians.
"The exemption order lacks competence," the Supreme Court said. Criminals can be released only by the state where they are tried, the court said, adding that the decision was up to the Maharashtra government.
The Supreme Court came down heavily against its own judgment in May 2022, delivered by Justice Ajay Rastogi (retired), which allowed the convicts to appeal for their early remission before the Gujarat government.
The convicts got the 2022 Supreme Court order "through fraudulent means", the judges said, cancelling that order.
The Supreme Court also said the Gujarat government should have filed a petition seeking a review of the 2022 order on grounds that they were not the competent authority to grant remission to the convicts.
The convicts were released by the Gujarat government on Independence Day in 2022 on the basis of an obsolete law.
The Gujarat government had allowed the men to walk free on basis of a 1992 remission policy, which has since been superseded by a law in 2014 that bars the release of convicts in cases of capital offence.
The state had consulted a panel that included men linked to the state's ruling BJP, after the top court asked it to take a call on the plea of a single convict, Radheshaym Shah.
The panel had justified their decision calling the men "sanskari (cultured) Brahmins" who have already served 14 years in prison and displayed good behaviour.
The convicts were given a hero's welcome and were seen sharing stage with a BJP MP and MLA. Radheshaym Shah had even started practicing law, which was brought to the attention of the Supreme Court.
Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had reserved a verdict in October after an 11-day hearing on the petitions, including the one filed by Bilkis Bano. The court had asked the Centre and the Gujarat government to submit the original records related to the remission.
Petitioners against the convicts' release were filed by Trinamool Congress' Mahua Moitra, CPM Politburo member Subhashini Ali, independent journalist Revati Laul and former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University Roop Rekha Verma, among others.
During hearings, the Supreme Court had asked tough questions. "The convicts' death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment. How could they be released after serving 14 years in such a situation? Why are other prisoners not given the relief of release?" the judges had asked, commenting that the Gujarat government is on "thin ice" over the early release.
On behalf of the Gujarat government, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju said since the men were convicted in 2008, they had to be considered under the 1992 policy.
Bilkis Bano was 21 and five months' pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing during the communal riots that broke out after the fire in Sabarmati Express in which 59 kar sevaks were killed. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members slaughtered in the riots.
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