The Supreme Court on Thursday issued discover to the state authorities, agreeing to listen to a petition difficult the Gujarat authorities’s determination to exempt 11 convicts within the Bilkis Bano case.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana allowed the acquitted convicts to be made events within the case. A bench of Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice Vikram Nath posted the matter for listening to after two weeks.
Bilkis was gang-raped and her three-year-old daughter Saleha was amongst 14 individuals killed by a mob on March 3, 2002 in Limkheda taluka of Dahod district in the course of the Gujarat riots. Bilkis was pregnant on the time.
On 15 August, the Gujarat authorities launched all 11 convicts within the case, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 2008, citing the “unanimous” suggestion of the Jail Advisory Committee (JAC) to deal with them as “good behaviour”. on the idea of which exemption was advisable. ,
The court docket stated the query is whether or not thoughts was exercised whereas contemplating the problem of exemption and whether or not it was throughout the norms of legislation. The bench was listening to a plea by CPI(M) chief Subhashini Ali, journalist Revathi Laul and educationist Roop Rekha Verma.
The Gujarat authorities’s counsel argued that the three girls petitioners are “strangers” to the case and don’t have any stand earlier than the court docket. While the SC didn’t agree with this, Justice Rastogi requested the petitioners’ counsel Kapil Sibal why an exception ought to be made within the matter from granting exemption. “Day and day, the convicts serving life imprisonment are given exemption. What is the exception (in this case),” he requested.
As Sibal acknowledged the details of the case, Justice Rastogi requested: “Merely because the Act was appalling, is it sufficient to say that exemption should not be granted?”
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During the listening to, CJI Ramana additionally clarified that the SC didn’t “allow remission” of the convicts.
In May, following a petition filed by one of many convicts, Radhesham Shah, the SC bench of Justices Rastogi and Nath had dominated that though the trial in Bilkis case happened in Maharashtra, the Gujarat authorities could be the suitable authority to grant exemption. For 11 convicts based mostly on the 1992 coverage which permits early launch of life convicts.
In 2004, citing “extraordinary circumstances”, the SC shifted the trial from Gujarat to Mumbai.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
