The Supreme Court on Monday directed the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape, who have been on remission since 2022, to return to jail within two weeks.
This direction from the top court came when the bench was hearing Bano’s petition, asking to quash the remission granted to the convicts by the Gujarat government in 2022, an NDTV report said. The SC held that the Gujarat government had no jurisdiction to pass remission orders in case of the convicts.
The apex court bench consisting of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said, “The state of Gujarat acted in complicit with the convicts… it was this very apprehension which led this Court to transfer the trial out of the state.”
This comes after the top court panel on October 12, 2023 reserved its verdict after an 11-day hearing on the pleas, including the one filed by Bilkis Bano.
Reserving its judgement, the SC bench had also directed the Centre and the Gujarat government to submit the original records related to the convicts’ remission sentence by October 16, 2023.
All the 11 convicts were granted remission on August 15, 2022 by the Gujarat government and released from jail on the basis of obsolete law.
Following the release, the victim Bilkis Bano filed a petition in the Supreme Court contesting the remission granted to them. Several other PILs, including one by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, independent journalist Revati Laul and former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University Roop Rekha Verma, also challenged the relief. TMC leader Mahua Moitra has also filed a PIL against the remission and their premature release.
The convicts’ release sparked outrage across several sections of the nation and the society.
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