Bilkis Bano Gangrape Case: Supreme Court verdict today on pleas against early release of convicts

The Gujarat government, invoking a remission policy, had released the convicts on August 15, 2022. Bilkis Bano, a victim of post-Godhra riots in 2002, had been gang-raped, and the release prompted petitions from various entities.

The Supreme Court is set to announce its judgment on Monday, January 8, concerning the remission granted to convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case. The court had previously heard a series of pleas challenging the release of the 11 convicts, who were sentenced to life imprisonment. A bench comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had reserved its verdict on October 12 after an extensive 11-day hearing on various petitions, including one filed by Bilkis Bano herself. Let us know more about the case.

* Bilkis Bano, a victim of the post-Godhra riots in March 2002, was allegedly gang-raped, along with 14 members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter. The attackers left her to die in Vadodara when she was five months pregnant.

* Eleven were convicted for the crime. They are: Bipin Chandra Joshi, Bakabhai Vohania, Kesarbhai Vohania, Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Pradeep Mordhiya, Radheshyam Shah, Mitesh Bhatt, Rajubhai Soni, Shailesh Bhatt and Ramesh Chandana.  

* In a controversial move, on August 15, 2022, the Gujarat government released the 11 convicts citing the remission policy in place in the state at the time of their conviction in 2008. The life-term convicts were freed under this policy.

* Last October, the Supreme Court directed both the Centre and the Gujarat government to submit the original records related to the remission granted to the 11 convicts. Several pleas challenging the remission were filed by entities such as the National Federation of Indian Women, represented by General Secretary Annie Raja, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Member Subhashini Ali, journalist Revati Laul, social activist and professor Roop Rekha Verma, and TMC MP Mahua Moitra.

* The pleas contested the order of the competent authority of the Gujarat government, arguing that the 11 individuals, accused of heinous offenses committed in Gujarat, were unjustly released on August 15, 2022, under the remission granted to them.

* The Gujarat government, in its affidavit, defended the remission, claiming that the convicts had completed 14 years of their sentence, and their behavior was deemed good. It stated that the remission, granted on August 10, 2022, followed the policy of 1992, and the Central government had also approved the release of the convicts.