New Delhi: The Supreme Court will on Tuesday hear a plea against the release of 11 gangrape and murder convicts of the 2002 post-Godhra riots by the Gujarat government. The plea has been filed by the victim Bilkis Bano herself challenging the release of the 11 convicts, who allegedly gangraped her and murdered seven of her family members including her 3-year-old daughter.
The Gujarat government released all the 11 convicts in the Bilkis gangrape and murder case on Aug. 15 last year. The apex court had on May 2 deferred the hearing on the batch of pleas challenging the remission granted last year to all the 11 convicts in the case by a week. A bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna had observed that it was “obvious, rather more than obvious, that you all do not want the hearing to be conducted by this bench."
Also read:Bilkis Bano case: SC says 'clear attempt' by convicts to avoid present bench from hearing plea
The bench made the observation in reaction to the submission by the convicts' counsel raising objections on not being served the notice on Bano's plea. During the May 2 hearing, Justice Joseph said the court “understands that this is a bald attempt to wait out the time he has before retirement”. Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, while appearing in the court on behalf of the Centre and the Gujarat government, raised objections over multiple petitions filed in the case other than the one by the victim Bano.
The SG argued that the multiple petitions “will have wide ramifications as every now and then, third parties will approach courts in criminal cases”. Pertinently, the apex court on Apr. 18 this year questioned the Gujarat government over the remission granted to the 11 convicts, saying the gravity of the offence should have been considered, and wondered if there was any “application of mind”.
