New Delhi: A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana on Thursday issued notice on a petition challenging Gujarat government has ordered exemption of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case.
The court asked the petitioners to make the convicts parties in the petition with the Gujarat government.
The bench said orally: “Whatever the act was committed, the accused were punished and convicted. The question is whether they could have been exempted and whether it was within the norms of law.
The bench also dismissed a plea by the counsel of one of the convicts to hear him first on the preliminary objections against the maintainability of the writ petition.
were criminals Sentenced A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mumbai in 2008 sentenced him to life imprisonment for the gang-rape and murder of several members of Bilkis Bano’s family during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Later the Bombay High Court upheld the sentence.
On the petition of one of the accused, the Supreme Court in May this year had directed the Gujarat government to Consider Application for premature release of the petitioner.
It was clarified by the top court that the exemption would be under the 1992 policy and not the current policy implemented in 2014. As per the Supreme Court order, the 1992 policy was in force on the date of conviction, hence, the convicts are eligible to get the benefit under the Act.
While the 1992 policy was no exception, 2014 Policy does. It explicitly prohibits the government from granting remission, or premature release, to prisoners convicted of an offense which was investigated by the CBI, and to prisoners convicted of murder with rape or gang rape. was.
This means that 11 convicts will not be eligible for exemption under the new policy.
However, according to the petitioners in the Supreme Court, the release is also contrary to the Union Home Ministry’s latest guidelines at a discount. The petitioners claim that the state could not have allowed the premature release of the convicts without consulting the Centre.
The petition filed by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) Politburo member Subhashini Ali, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, independent journalist and filmmaker Revathi Laul and former philosophy professor and activist Rooprekha Verma was mentioned before a CJI bench on Tuesday. Gone.
CJI Ramana Agreed To list the matter for urgent hearing after submissions were made by senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Singhvi and Aparna Bhat.
As per the Gujarat government’s 1992 exemption policy, 11 convicts were released on Independence Day, sparking public outrage. Bilkis Bano, who Received Compensation of Rs 50 lakh, a job and a house, on the directions of the Supreme Court in 2019, complained that the Gujarat government never reached out to the convicts before giving them exemption.
(Edited by Jinnia Ray Chowdhury)