NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday quashed the Gujarat government’s order in the Blikis Bano case. The court held that the state of Gujarat was not competent to pass the remission orders in the case. All eleven convicts in the case will now have to return to jail.
Read More: PM Modi To Visit Gujarat From 8-10 January To Inaugurate Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit
While pronouncing the verdict, the division bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan, said that one of the convicts had suppressed facts and misled the apex court by making false statements.
The bench noted that the government within whose jurisdiction an offender is tried and sentenced is allowed to decide the remission of the convict’s sentence. The court said that the Gujarat government usurped the power of the Maharashtra government by deciding the remission plea, as it is the Maharashtra dipensation which has jurisdiction to decide remission.
The apex court said that the Gujarat government acted in tandem with convicts in granting them remission which vindicated SC’s earlier order by which trial was shifted outside the state. The court said that the convicts cannot be allowed to be out of jail after their remission is quashed and directed them (the convicts) to report to jail authority within two weeks.
The top court’s ruling comes after a slew of petitions sought the quashing of the Gujarat government’s decision to remit the sentences of 11 convicts who had gang-raped Bilkis Bano and killed 14 members of her family during the 2002 communal riots. Bilkis was also one of the petitioners.
The bench had wrapped up proceedings in October and reserved its verdict after hearing all the parties, including the convicts.
Read More: UPSC Success Story: Meet IAS Vijay Wardhan, Who Overcame 35 Failures To Achieve UPSC Success
During the hearing, the Centre and the Gujarat government had justified the decision to allow their premature release, saying they did not commit a “rarest-of-rare crime” and should be given a chance to reform and reintegrate into society.
However, the bench had asked why the remission policy was being implemented selectively and many other prisoners, who fulfilled the criteria of remission, continued to languish in jail. The court had also noted that the convicts were allowed to come out on parole multiple times and observed that some prisoners were more privileged than others.
Bilkis, in her submission, had told the bench that the state granted them remission without considering the nature of the offence and they did not deserve any leniency as they were not at all remorseful.
Bilkis was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped, and her three-year-old daughter was among the 14 family members who were killed.
A batch of petitions was filed in the apex court by social activists and politicians soon after all 11 convicts were granted remission and released on August 15, 2022.
CPM leader Subhashini Ali, independent journalist Revati Laul, former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University Roop Rekha Verma, and TMC MP Mahua Moitra are some of the petitioners who approached the Supreme Court against the remission. Bilkis moved the apex court in November of that year.
