SC to consider listing of review plea of Bilkis Bano opposing remission pleas of 11 convicts

Responding to Advocate Gupta, CJI Chnadrachud said that the plea will come up by circulation, but he will have it posted early. "It will come up by circulation. I will have it posted early. There is a date, I will check," the CJI said.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said it would consider an early listing of a plea demanding a review of its earlier order that sought to consider the remission of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, and Justices P S Narasimha and Dipankar Datta were hearing the matter in regard to submissions made by lawyer Shobha Gupta who notified that the review plea is yet to be listed even though the tentative date was shown as December 5.

Responding to Advocate Gupta, CJI Chnadrachud said that the plea will come up by circulation, but he will have it posted early. "It will come up by circulation. I will have it posted early. There is a date, I will check," the CJI said. As per procedures, review pleas against apex court judgments are decided in chambers by circulation by the judges who were part of the judgment under review.

Bilkis Bano, the gang-rape victim who had seven members of her family killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots, has also filed a separate petition challenging the remission of the sentence of 11 convicts in the case by the Gujarat state government, citing that their premature release has "shaken the conscience of society".

The plea is listed for hearing on December 13 before a bench of justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi. Bano has sought a review of the apex court's May 13, 2022 order on a plea by a convict. The top court had meanwhile asked the state government to consider the plea for premature release of the convicts in terms of its policy of July 9, 1992, about deciding a remission petition within a period of two months.

Accordingly, all 11 convicts were granted remission by the state government and released on August 15 this year. The review plea said Bilkis Bano was not made a party to the petition by a convict who along with others was released under the state's remission policy which is not in force.

The top court is already seized of PILs filed by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, Revati Laul, an independent journalist, and Roop Rekha Verma, who is a former vice chancellor of the Lucknow University, and TMC MP Mahua Moitra against the release of the convicts.

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

The investigation in the case was handed over to the CBI and the trial was transferred to a Maharashtra court by the Supreme Court. A special CBI court in Mumbai had on January 21, 2008, sentenced the 11 to life imprisonment on charges of gang rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven members of her family.

Their conviction was later upheld by the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court. The 11 men convicted in the case walked out of the Godhra sub-jail on August 15 after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy. They had completed more than 15 years in jail.