Bilkis Bano Case: SC Quashes Remission Of 11 Convicts, Orders Their Return To Jail In 2 Weeks

The Supreme Court quashed the remission of 11 men found guilty of gangraping Bilkis Bano and killing seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots on Monday, accusing the government of abusing its power. The court also mandated that the offenders be returned to jail within two weeks.

Remission order lacked rational thought: SC

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan questioned whether “heinous crimes against women permit remission” regardless of the faith or creed the accused may belong to, stating that the remission order issued by the Gujarat government lacked rational thought. When Bilkis Bano, then twenty-one, was raped in February 2002, she was five months pregnant and running from the horror of the communal rioting that had broke out following the Godhra train burning tragedy. Her daughter, age three, was one of the seven members of the family who died.

11 convicts granted remission on August 15, 2022

All 11 convicts were granted remission by the Gujarat government and released on August 15, 2022, according to PTI. “We strike down the remission orders on the ground of usurpation of power by Gujarat government,” the bench said. In a 100-page judgment, SC said the Gujarat government was not the right government to issue the remission order. According to PTI, it made it clear that the state where a criminal is prosecuted and found guilty has the authority to choose whether to grant a conviction on remission.

Top court overturned different bench’s May 13, 2022 judgment

“We need not have gone into the other issues. But for sake of completion, we have. The rule of law is breached because the Gujarat government usurped power not vested in it and abused its power. On that ground also, the remission orders deserve to be quashed,” the bench said. Additionally, the top court overturned a different bench’s May 13, 2022 judgment requesting that the Gujarat government take into account a remission application from one of the convicts since the order was acquired by “playing fraud on the court” and by omitting important information as reported PTI.

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