Bilkis Bano gangrape case: SC quashes Gujarat govt's decision to allow premature release of convicts
Supreme Court bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan held that 11 convicts would have to report back to the jail authorities.
Bilkis Bano gangrape case, Supreme Court verdict latest news: In a major development, the Supreme Court on Monday quashed the Gujarat government's decision to allow premature release of convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case. The incident of Bilkis Bano gangrape happened during the Gujarat riots of 2002.
The Supreme Court bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan held that 11 convicts would have to report back to the jail authorities, within two weeks and they will continue to remain in jail.
The top court also stated that the Gujarat government was not empowered to pass the remission order as the appropriate government, entitled to pass orders of remission, was the government of the State where the trial had taken place. In this case, it was Maharashtra and not Gujarat.
"On competence of Gujarat government to pass remission orders, it is apparent that appropriate government had to take permission of the court before passing remission orders. This means that the place of occurrence or place of imprisonment of convicts is not relevant for remission. The definition of appropriate government is otherwise. The government intends that the State under whom the convict was tried and sentenced was the appropriate government. This emphasizes the place of trial and rather than where the crime took place," the Court stated.
The apex court, in its judgment, also strongly came down upon one of the convicts, Radhyesham, for playing fraud upon the Court as he suppressed material facts and got a favorable order from the top court in May 2022, which eventually led to the release of all the 11 convicts.
The Court added that the May 2022 judgment was obtained by fraud. Therefore, it further said that the judgment was not good in law.