Women's organisations in Bengaluru, New Delhi and Mumbai protested against the Gujarat government's remission of the sentence to convicts in the Bilkis Bano case/
'I learnt today that Bilkis Bano had to change her house after these people were released as some of them lived in her vicinity.' 'This was an injustice to her, she had to do this under duress.'
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar termed the plea as "absolutely misconceived" and said how can it sit in appeal over an order passed by another bench of the apex court.
The examination-in-chief of Bilkis Bano is almost over and the cross-examination is expected to begin on Wednesday.
The comments were made in Rokhthok column of the Sena mouthpiece Saamana which carried the Kadaknath Mumbaikar byline and not of the Marathi daily's executive editor Sanjay Raut.
The 11 convicts are Bakabhai Vohania, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Govind Nai, Jaswant Nai, Mitesh Bhatt, Pradeep Mordhiya, Radheshyam Shah, Rajubhai Soni, Ramesh Chandana and Shailesh Bhatt.
Justice Rastogi said now that the victim has approached this court challenging the remission to convicts, her plea will be taken as a lead matter. The rest of the petitions will be tagged along with her plea when the bench will sit with a different combination of judges, Justice Rastogi said.
He was also seen standing next to Jaswant Bhabhor, a former Union minister of state for tribal affairs, in a photo shared by the Dahod district information department.
There are some convicts who are "more privileged", the Supreme Court said on Thursday while hearing pleas challenging the grant of remissions to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case and the murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The hearing on Bilkis Bano's plea challenging the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the gang-rape case by the Gujarat government, could not be held in the Supreme Court on Tuesday as the judges concerned were hearing a matter related to passive euthanasia as part of a five-judge Constitution bench.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had on October 12 last year reserved its verdict after an 11-day hearing on the petitions, including the one filed by Bano.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to constitute a special bench to hear a plea against the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case, which also involves the killing of seven members of her family during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Convict Pradip Modhiya, a resident of Dahod district, has been released from Godhra district jail on parole due to the death of his father-in-law.
Eleven convicts walked out of Godhra sub-jail after the Gujarat government allowed their release on August 15 this year.
The Supreme Court on Monday held as maintainable the PIL filed by Bilkis Bano, who was gang-raped while seven of her family members were killed during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, against the state government's decision to grant remission to 11 convicts in the case.
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, saying the orders were "stereotyped" and passed without application of mind.
C K Raulji, the BJP MLA from Godhra, said he does not know whether the convicts, released after spending more than 15 years in jail, were involved in the crime.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to resume hearing on Thursday a clutch of petitions challenging the remission granted to all 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala assured Bano, represented through her lawyer Shobha Gupta, that the new bench will be formed at the earliest.
'We are scared. Several people have left the village out of fear of violence from the side of the convicts after their release'
In a statement issued through her lawyer Shobha Gupta, Bano thanked the top court for the verdict and said, "Today is truly the New Year for me." "I have wept tears of relief. I have smiled for the first time in over a year and half. I have hugged my children. It feels like a stone the size of a mountain has been lifted from my chest, and I can breathe again," Bano said.
"Law is supposed to be a noble profession," the Supreme Court observed on Thursday, and voiced surprise over how can one of the convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and murder of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots practise law after his conviction, the remission of his sentence notwithstanding.
The Supreme Court on Thursday sought responses from the Centre and the Gujarat government on a plea challenging the remission granted to 11 life convicts in the case of Bilkis Bano's gangrape and murder of her family members.
The Gujarat government was "complicit and acted in tandem with one of the convicts", the SC said.
Bilkis Bano, a survivor of the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat, on Wednesday said the premature release of all the 11 convicts serving a life sentence in a case related to her and seven family members, has shaken faith in justice and left her numb.
"Why are our jails overcrowded? Why is the the policy of remission being applied selectively?"
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and Dipankar Datta took note of the submissions of lawyer Shobha Gupta that the review plea is yet to be listed.
Demanding that the remission must be revoked, the citizens noted that the early release of these murderers and rapists only strengthens the impunity of all men who commit rape and other acts of violence against women.
'We are aghast at what happened in Gujarat a few days ago, on the 75th anniversary of India's Independence'
The 11 convicts on Monday walked out of the Godhra sub-jail after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy.
Supreme Court judge Bela M Trivedi on Tuesday recused herself from hearing a plea filed by Bilkis Bano, who was gang-raped and seven members of her family killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots, challenging the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the case by the state government.
Six police officers have been charged with shielding the guilty, while a doctor couple, Arun Kumar and Sangeeta Prasad, are accused of destroying evidence.
Twelve people were convicted and seven acquitted by a Mumbai court on Friday in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case of Gujarat. The sentencing is on Monday.
A special court in Mumbai framed charges against 19 accused for their alleged complicity in the attack on a group of 17 members of the minority community on March 3, 2002.
Bilkis Bano was gangraped in March, 2002, while she was pregnant.
The Bombay high court on Thursday rejected bail pleas of the seven convicts in the 2002 Bilkis Bano gangrape case after observing that it was a "serious offence".
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider listing a plea challenging the grant of remission by the Gujarat government to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case.
Eleven persons were sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court in Mumbai on Monday for their involvement in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape and murders that took place during the communal violence in Gujarat in 2002. The twelfth convict in the case, Somabhai Gori, a police official who was found guilty for shielding the offenders, has been sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment. On January 18, the court convicted the 12 and acquitted seven for lack of evidence.
Bilkis Bano on Wednesday challenged the remission of sentence and release of convicts in the 2002 rape and murder case filing a plea before the Supreme Court.
The gangrape victim said there were many other women like her in Gujarat.
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