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State of Gujarat has submitted before the Supreme Court that the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano rape case, were released since they had completed 14 years and above in prison and their behaviour was found to be good.
Advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for Bilkis Bano, told the Supreme Court today that convicts had chased Bano with a "bloodthirsty approach" to hunt Muslims and kill them.
Top Court was further told that the CBI had opposed premature release of the convicts submitting that the crime was of such a nature that it could not be pardoned.
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan was further informed that during the 2002 Gujarat riots the accused had specifically targeted Muslims and murdered them.
Gupta further argued that effect of such an incident on society has not been considered while granting remission to 11 convicts who gangraped Bilkis Bano in Gujarat in 2002.
The matter will now be heard tomorrow.
Supreme Court today started hearing the final arguments in all pleas filed against the remission granted to 11 convicts. On July 17, it had recorded that a publication had been effected on June 1, 2023 to intimate all the respondents and an affidavit in that regard has been submitted.
Supreme Court on March 27, 2023 had issued notice in all the Public Interest petitions filed against the remission order as also the petition filed by Bano herself, who was represented by Advocate Gupta.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had constituted a bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagaratha to hear the petition filed by rape survivor Bilkis Bano, challenging the remission granted to 11 convicts.
This was done two days after the CJI had said that he would appoint a special bench to hear the petition, after the same was mentioned before him by Advocate Shobha Gupta.
In December last year Justice Bela M. Trivedi of the Supreme Court had recused from hearing the petition by Bano, and the bench also comprising Justice Ajay Rastogi had therefore adjourned the case by Bano seeking a review against the judgment of the Supreme Court delivered in May 2022 which held that Gujarat Government has the jurisdiction to decide the remission plea of the convicts, although the trial was held in Maharashtra.
On August 16, 2022 all 11 life imprisonment convicts in the 2002 post-Godhra Bilkis Bano gang-rape case of Gujarat were released from the Godhra sub-jail after a state government panel approved their application for remission of sentence.
In her petition, Bano has stated that she was not even made party respondent by the accused persons in the writ petition concerning remission and that this was the reason that she had absolutely no information of the filing or pendency of the said writ petition or the order passed therein by the Top Court till the writ petitioner and other 10 co-convicts/prisoners were prematurely released on 15.08.2022.
She has submitted that the accused persons concealed important documents/ material from the Supreme Court which are very necessary for proper adjudication of the review petition and issue in hand, the present petitioner would therefore be filing an application seeking permission to bring on record additional facts and documents.
Case Title: Bilkis Yakub Rasool vs. Union of India & Ors.
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