- Holding the PIL challenging the remission as maintainable, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said the Gujarat government was not the appropriate government to pass the remission order
- Opposition parties welcome the order, flay BJP
NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, JAN 8
The Supreme Court on Monday quashed the Gujarat government’s decision to grant remission to 11 convicts in the case of gangrape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 riots in the state.
Holding the PIL challenging the remission as maintainable, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said the Gujarat government was not the appropriate government to pass the remission order.
In its more than 100-page judgment, the Supreme Court had stated that the Gujarat government was not the appropriate government to pass the remission order. It clarified that the state in which an offender is tried and sentenced is competent to decide the remission plea of convicts. The convicts were tried in Maharashtra.
“We need not have gone into the other issues. But for the sake of completion, we have. Rule of law is breached because the Gujarat government usurped power not vested in it and abused its power. On that ground also, the remission orders deserve to be quashed,” the bench had said.
Bilkis Bano was 21-years-old and five months pregnant when she was raped while fleeing the horror of the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train-burning incident. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed in the riots.
All 11 convicts were granted remission by the Gujarat government and released on August 15, 2022.
After this, public confidence in the justice system will be further strengthened: Priyanka
The Congress has hailed the Supreme Court judgment quashing the Gujarat government’s decision to grant remission to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case, saying it has removed the veil over the BJP’s anti-women policies.
Reacting to the ruling, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said justice has ultimately prevailed.
“With this order, the veil over the anti-women policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party has been removed. After this, public confidence in the justice system will be further strengthened. Congratulations to Bilkis Bano for continuing her fight bravely,” she said in a post in Hindi on ‘X’.
The Congress’ media and publicity head Pawan Khera said the Supreme Court judgment quashing the release of the 11 rapists by the Gujarat government “exposes the BJP’s callous disregard for women”.
“It is a slap on the face of those who facilitated the illegal release of these criminals and also those who garlanded the convicts and fed sweets to them…,” Pawan Khera said.
“India will not allow the administration of justice to be incumbent on the religion or the caste of the victim or the perpetrator of a crime,” he added.
In a post on ‘X’, the Congress said attacked the verdict shows the “anti-women” act of the BJP government in Gujarat. “This decision of the Supreme Court in the Bilkis Bano case is historic. This decision exposes the anti-women act of the BJP government of Gujarat in releasing the rapists of Bilkis Bano. This shows how disgusting the BJP’s thinking is towards women,” the party said in Hindi.
“At least, it does hold some hope for justice,” said, CPI(M) leader after SC cancelled the Gujarat order in the Bilkis Bano case.
