New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the parole granted to 11 people convicted of gangrape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The top court was hearing petitions challenging the Gujarat government’s decision to prematurely release these people on August 15 last year. Bano, who was pregnant when she was gangraped, has also challenged the exemption.
A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagaratna said on Tuesday: “The question is whether the government applied its mind and what material formed the basis of its decision to grant exemption… Today, it is Bilkis but tomorrow it is any Maybe. It could be you or me. If you don’t give your reasons for giving exemption, we will draw our own conclusions.”
The bench also said: “A pregnant woman was gang-raped and several people were killed. You cannot compare the victim’s case with standard Section 302 (murder) cases. Just like you cannot compare apples to oranges. Similarly, genocide cannot be compared to a murder. The crimes are generally committed against the society and community. Unequals cannot be treated equally.”
The bench posted the matter for final disposal on May 2 and asked all the convicts, who have not been served notices, to file replies.
The Center and the Gujarat government also told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that they may challenge its order seeking original files on the release of the 11 convicts.
The Gujarat government cited “privilege” and indicated that it did not want to share the original files.