Priya Gour
Published on: 23 August, 2022 at 18:38 IST
A plea was moved before the Supreme Court Bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, and Justices Hima Kohli and CT Ravikumar, challenging the Gujarat Government’s decision in the Bilkis Bano issue. The state government remitted the 11 convicts, convicted for raping Bilkis Bano and murdering her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots(Gujarat).
About the Case:
Bilkis Bano was gangraped during the 2002 riots. Her family members, that also included her three-year-old daughter were murdered by a mob in Limkheda taluka of Dahod district, Gujarat.
After she approached the National Human Rights Commission, a CBI enquiry was ordered into the matter by the apex court. The Supreme Court in 2004 transferred the case from Godhra to Maharashtra after the victim received death threats from the accused.
Post investigation, the Special CBI Court convicted thirteen accused, out of which eleven were directed to serve life imprisonment for conviction of gangrape and murder in 2008. The Bombay High Court upheld the conviction order in 2017. Along with this, the apex court bench of the then Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna in 2019 directed the Gujarat Government to provide ₹50 lakh to Bano as a compensation. The State was also directed to provide her with a government job and accommodation.
The current petition against the orders of remission of the Gujarat Government was moved by Subhasini Ali, CPI(M), Revati Laul ( independent journalist and filmmaker)and activist Roop Rekh Varma. Their petition was represented by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and Advocate Aparna Bhat.
The 11 convicts include:
Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radhyesham Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt, and Ramesh Chandana.
Responding to the remission, Gujarat Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Raj Kumar reportedly informed the bench that the release had been made after the completion of sentence of 14 years. Also, other factors like “age, nature of the crime, behaviour in prison and so on” have been taken into consideration by the State Government.
The apex court bench noted, “Let us see the papers.”
Thus, the bench has sought for the response of the Government, but did not pass any order of listing.