New Delhi
Bureau, Voice 9: The Supreme Court bench, consisting of two judges, invalidated
the Gujarat government's decision in August 2022 to grant remission to 11 convicts
involved in the gang-rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of seven of her family
members during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The court stated that since the
gang-rapists were convicted and sentenced in Maharashtra, Gujarat did not have
the authority to make a decision regarding remission.
The SC orders that the prisoners must return to prison after having their remission overturned and orders them to report to the jail administration within two weeks.
The verdict
on the case, which was heard for 11 days, was reserved by the bench consisting
of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan on October 12 last year. Various
pleas were filed challenging the remission, including one by Bilkis herself.
Additionally, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra and CPI(M)'s
Subhashini Ali are among the multiple petitioners in the case. The release of
the convicts caused widespread outrage.
Their
remission and subsequent release from prison coincided with India's 75th
anniversary of independence and occurred shortly after Prime Minister Narendra
Modi's address to the nation from the historic Red Fort in Delhi.
