National Desk, 8th January: In a setback for the Gujarat government, the Supreme Court has overturned its decision to grant early release to 11 convicts involved in the heinous crimes against Bilkis Bano during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Justices BV Nagarthana and Ujjal Bhuyan pronounced the verdict, validating Bilkis Bano’s petition opposing the early release.
The Supreme Court observed that an application for their early release was filed by the governments before the Government of Gujarat, and the government is competent to consider it. However, the bench, led by Nagarthana and Bhuyan, emphasized that the Gujarat government lacked the authority to pass the order, asserting that the appropriate government entitled to make such decisions was Maharashtra, where the trial occurred, not Gujarat.
The convicts were released in 2022 under an outdated remission policy from 1992, despite a more recent 2014 law prohibiting such early releases in cases involving capital offenses. This move triggered widespread criticism and prompted various petitions challenging the release, including one filed by Bilkis Bano herself.
Bilkis Bano, 21 years old and five months pregnant at the time, endured a brutal gang-rape, and seven of her family members, including her three-year-old daughter, were murdered during the communal violence following the Sabarmati Express incident. The convicts’ death sentences had been commuted to life imprisonment previously, raising questions about the justification for their release after serving only 14 years.