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Supreme Court to hear pleas by Bilkis Bano case convicts for more time to surrender

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear pleas by three of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case seeking more time to surrender.

The apex court had, in its judgment on January 8, given the convicts two weeks to report back to jail after concluding that the remission of their life sentence by the Gujarat government in August 2022 was illegal.

The trio, Govindbhai Nai, Mitesh Chimanlal Bhatt, and Ramesh Rupabhai Chandana, has cited ill-health and impending family or personal commitments to urge for more time to give themselves up.

Their pleas were mentioned before Justice B.V. Nagarathna, who had headed the Bench which ordered them to return to jail, on Thursday. Justice Nagarathna directed the Supreme Court Registry to seek the orders of the Chief Justice of India to re-constitute the Bench which had heard and pronounced the judgment on January 8.

The Bilkis Bano judgment was delivered by a Bench of Justices Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan. Currently, Justice Nagarathna is presiding on a Bench comprising Justice Sanjay Karol.

Justice Nagarathna asked the Registry to enquire from the Chief Justice whether the Bench with Justice Bhuyyan could be constituted on January 19 as the deadline to surrender given in the January 8 verdict draws to a close on January 21.

Nai has sought a month to arrange care for his aged parents and said he himself was unwell. Chandana said his son was getting married and sought six weeks. Bhatt also asked for six weeks to harvest his crops.

The 11 men were serving life sentence for the gangrape of a pregnant Bano, the rape and murder of her family members, including a two-month-old infant during the 2002 riots.

The 251-page judgment authored by Bano had described the crimes of the men as “grotesque and diabolical crime driven by communal hatred”.

The court had made scathing remarks about the ruling BJP government in Gujarat for acting “in tandem” with the prisoners to order their early release after “usurping the power” to do so. Monday’s judgment came as a blow to the Centre which had approved the men’s premature release.

“A woman deserves respect howsoever high or low she may be otherwise considered in society or to whatever faith she may follow or any creed she may belong to. Can heinous crimes against women permit remission of the convicts by a reduction in their sentence and by granting them liberty?” Justice Nagarathna, had observed in the judgment.