Bilkis Bano case: Supreme Court to deliver verdict on premature release of 11 convicts today

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had on October 12 last year reserved its verdict after an 11-day hearing on the pleas, including the one filed by Bilkis Bano.

Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the horror of the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train-burning incident. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed in the riots.

The trial of the case was shifted from Gujarat to Mumbai and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigated the case. In 2008, a special court in Mumbai sentenced the 11 to life imprisonment. This decision was upheld by a division bench of the Bombay high court in 2017.

On August 15, 2022, all 11 convicts were granted remission by the Gujarat government and released.

While hearing the matter in September last year, the Supreme Court had asked whether convicts have a fundamental right to seek remission.

On October 12, while reserving the judgment, the top court had directed the Centre and the Gujarat government to submit by October 16 the original records related to the remission of sentence of the 11 convicts.

During the earlier arguments, the court had observed that state governments should not be selective in granting remission to convicts and the opportunity to reform and reintegrate with society should extend to every prisoner.

Besides the petition filed by Bano challenging the remission granted to them by the Gujarat government, several other PILs, including one by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, independent journalist Revati Laul and former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University Roop Rekha Verma, have challenged the relief.

Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra has also filed a PIL against the remission and their premature release.