New Delhi :- In a significant ruling on Monday, the Supreme Court overturned the Gujarat government’s decision to grant remission to 11 convicts involved in the gangrape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of seven family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The court declared that the Gujarat government lacked jurisdiction to entertain the remission application, emphasizing that the appropriate government for such decisions is the state where the accused were sentenced. The Maharashtra government is identified as the competent authority in this matter.
Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan highlighted that the Gujarat government’s actions were based on a nullified order from May 2022, alleging the suppression of facts and fraud on the court.
The 11 convicts were released on August 15, 2022, under Gujarat’s 1992 remission and premature release policy. Radheshyam Shah, one of the convicts, sought Supreme Court intervention after completing 15 years and four months in jail.
Responding to the release, Bilkis Bano expressed shock, describing it as one of the most gruesome crimes in the country’s history. She moved the Supreme Court, stating that the mass premature release had deeply affected society’s conscience.
Bilkis, 21 years old and pregnant at the time, endured a horrific gangrape during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The release of the convicts stirred renewed attention to this tragic episode, prompting the Supreme Court’s intervention and the subsequent annulment of the remission decision by the Gujarat government.
