The grant of remission by the Gujarat government to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case has been challenged in the Supreme Court.
Lawyer, Aparna Bhat brought the matter before the Chief Justice of India for urgent listing tomorrow. CJI NV Ramana has agreed to investigate this issue. CJI Ramana asked whether remission was granted under a Supreme Court order.
Senior Attorney Kapil Sibal replied that the Supreme Court had only ordered the matter to be reviewed. The Supreme Court gave the government discretion to consider this.
A petition against the early release of prisoners was filed by Communist Party of India member Subhashini Ali, journalist Revati Laul and Professor Roop Rekha Verma.
The crime, which occurred during the 2002 Gujarat riots, is related to the gang rape of Bilkisbano and the murder of 14 family members, including her 3-year-old daughter. Bilkis was the sole survivor of the crime. The investigation was handed over to the CBI, and the case was transferred from the Supreme Court of Gujarat to Maharashtra.
In 2008, a Mumbai trial court sentenced 11 of him to life imprisonment for gang rape and murder. The conviction was upheld by the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court.
On 15th August 2022, all prisoners were released from Ghodra prison by order of the Government of Gujarat.
In May 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that the Government of Gujarat was the appropriate government to consider enacting the case and ordered that the request for enactment be decided within two months. The early release of these prisoners caused widespread outrage.
Senior Lawyer Rebecca M. John, an expert in criminal law, said that under section 432(7) CrPC, the Supreme Court decided to grant immunity to Gujarat because the state where the trial took place had the power to decide. has erroneously determined that it has jurisdiction to grant Remission.
Therefore, the Maharashtra government is the “appropriate government” to consider the issue of remission.
