 "bilkis bano")
The Supreme Court on Monday quashed the Gujarat government’s August 2022 order of premature release of 11 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment for the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her family members during the 2002 riots in Gujarat.
Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was raped while fleeing the riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident in February 2002. Her three-year-old daughter was among those killed. All 11 convicts were granted remission by the Gujarat government and released on August 15, 2022.
Holding that a “complicit” Gujarat government abused its power, the apex court ordered that the men be sent back to jail within two weeks.
“We strike down the remission orders on the ground of usurpation of power by the Gujarat government,” a Bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said in its 251-page judgment.
The Bench held that since the convicts were tried and sentenced in Maharashtra, that state, and not Gujarat, had to consider and remit their sentence. The court said the rule of law was breached as an incompetent authority passed the remission order.
“Courts have to dispense justice and not justice being dispensed with,” the Bench said. Pronouncing the order, Justice Nagarathna noted: “A woman deserves respect howsoever high or low she may be otherwise considered in society or to whatever faith she may follow or any creed she may belong to. Can heinous crimes against women permit (the) remission of the convicts by a reduction in their sentence and by granting them liberty? These are the issues which arise in these writ petitions,” she said.
The court nullified its May 2022 order of another Bench asking the Gujarat government to consider a remission plea of one of the convicts, as the order was obtained by “playing fraud on the court” and by suppressing material facts. “Taking advantage of the May 13, 2022, order of this court, other convicts also filed remission applications... Gujarat was complicit and acted in tandem with respondent No. 3 (one of the convicts) in this case. This court was misled by suppressing facts,” the Bench said.
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It said the Gujarat government passed stereotyped and cyclostyled remission orders reflecting complete non-application of mind. “The rule of law does not mean protection to a fortunate few,” the Bench said.
Several political leaders welcomed the SC verdict. Congress spokesperson and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi termed it a “revolutionary judgment" which has "shown a mirror to arrogant power”. He said the order laid bare the role of the Ministry of Home Affairs in sanctioning remission to the convicts.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said: “The tendency to ‘murder justice’ for electoral gains is dangerous for a democratic system. Today, the Supreme Court’s decision once again showed the country who gives ‘patronage to criminals’.”
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said she was grateful to the SC for the “strong and bold judgment”. AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi said two BJP legislators endorsed the release of the convicts. One of the BJP MLAs called them as “Sanskari” and demanded that the BJP leadership apologise to Bilkis Bano.
