- The new bench will take up the matter for hearing in the second week of July
- Centre and the Gujarat government will produce the documents regarding the release of the convicts
NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MAY 2
The Supreme Court on Tuesday postponed the hearing in Bilkis Bano case to July.
The report said the hearing of a clutch of petitions challenging the release of the 11 men convicted for rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her family during the 2002 Gujarat riots, was postponed.
“The hearing will take place in the second week of July, the court said after the Centre and the Gujarat government said they will produce the documents regarding the release of the convicts,” the report mentioned.
A bench of justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna was told by Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Gujarat government that they are not claiming any privilege and are not filing any plea for review of the March 27 order of the court, which had asked for production of original records, with regard to the remission granted to the convicts. The SG, at the outset, raised preliminary objections with regard to petitions filed in the matter other than by Bano, saying it will have wide ramifications as every now and then third parties will come to the courts in criminal cases.
The bench fixed May 9 for hearing the matter as several counsel for convicts, who have been released in the case, said that they need time to file their replies to the plea by Bano. “We are only fixing timelines, so that whichever court takes up the matter, it will not have to waste time on these procedural issues. I am retiring during a vacation on June 16. My last working day will be on May 19. My sister (Justice Nagarathna) will be going to attend a conference in Singapore till May 25. If all of you agree, then we can sit during vacation and finish hearing this case,” Justice Joseph said.
The Solicitor General, however, urged the court that it may list the matter before the summer vacation. Advocate Shobha Gupta said that the matter will take a very short time as only the question of law needs to be decided. Justice Joseph told Gupta, “It is apparent from the way counsel appearing for convicts that they do not want this hearing to take place. Every time the matter will be called up, one person or the other will come and say that he needs time to file a reply. It is more than obvious”. However, the bench said that the new bench will take up the matter for hearing in the second week of July.
Senior advocate Siddharth and advocate Rishi Malhotra, appearing for the convicts, said what was the “tearing hurry” in hearing the case after counsel for Bano and others requested that the matter be taken up before vacation. “We have been released and are out for around one year. There should not be any tearing hurry”, Malhotra said.
