'She showed courage at every turn in her political career.'
The Supreme Court on Monday held as nullity the May 13, 2022, judgment of another bench of the apex court, which had directed the Gujarat government to consider the remission applications of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and murder of seven of her family members, saying it was obtained by "playing fraud on court".
The 11 convicts in the case of gang-rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat can approach the Maharashtra government with request for remission of their sentences.
The review plea filed by Ramesh Rupabhai Chandana said the top court erred while passing the impugned order and overruling judgment dated May 13, 2022, passed by another bench of the apex court.
'Vijaya Raje Scindia had assured the prime minister that nothing would happen to the Babri Masjid'
"Public outcry will not affect our judicial decisions," the Supreme Court asserted on Tuesday, as it began weighing the legality of the remission granted to all the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
"When an authority does not have the jurisdiction to deal with a matter or it is not within the powers of the authority i.e. the State of Gujarat in the instant case, to be the appropriate Government to pass orders of remission under Section 432 of the CrPC, the orders of remission would have no legs to stand," it added.
But the provision was made inapplicable to Muslim women after enactment of the said Muslim Women Act by the then Rajiv Gandhi Goverment in 1986.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said the reasons cited by the convicts have no merits.
The top court on January 8 had quashed the Gujarat government's decision to grant remission to 11 convicts in the case, saying the orders were 'stereotyped' and passed without application of mind.
Supreme Court judgement pronounced on Monday quashing the Gujarat government's decision to grant remission to 11 convicts in the case of gang-rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 riots in the state, said the orders were "stereotyped".
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The Bombay high court has admitted an appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation seeking death penalty for three convicts for the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of her family members in the aftermath of March 2002 Godhra riots.
Opposing the Supreme Court direction to make the registration of marriages compulsory, the grand mufti of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday said Muslim marriages cannot be bound by the new ruling. "Muslim marriages are solemnised in the presence of witnesses and recorded with the signatures of all concerned. Court registrations would give rise to a lot of problems. Muslim marriages cannot be made bound by the new ruling," Bashirrudin Ahmad said in a statement in Srinagar.
Mani Shankar Aiyar says the Congress party and not then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was responsible for unlocking the Babri Masjid gates and claimed that the "Bharatiya Janata Party-planted" Arun Nehru was behind it.
G M Banatwala's death plunged the Muslim League's circles in Kerala into gloom as he was part and parcel of the politics in the state. G M Banatwala, president of the League, died in Mumbai on Wednesday after a brief illness.
Wouldn't it be better to join the celebrations with the vast Hindu majority while at the same time criticising Mr Modi/BJP/RSS for politicising it? notes Shekhar Gupta.
"Is being part of Modi's 'political family' a 'guarantee of protection' for criminals?" Rahul Gandhi asked.
18 people stand convicted in the case.
A large number of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf candidates had contested as independents after the ECP had snatched the former prime minister Imran Khan-led party of its iconic cricket bat symbol.
Lashing out at both the opposition and ruling fronts led by the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said that neither dukandar nor chowkidar opens their mouths when Muslims are oppressed.
A day after he and 10 others were released from jail in the case related to the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots, convict Shailesh Bhatt claimed that they were 'victims of politics'.
"Those who raped a five-month pregnant woman and killed her three-year-old daughter were released during 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav'. What message is being given to the women of the country by those who peddle lies about 'Nari Shakti'?
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan's decision to exclude some media groups from his interaction with reporters in Kochi on Monday evoked sharp criticism from the ruling Communist Party of India-Maxist and the opposition Congress, with both terming the action as "fascist".
A revealing excerpt from Mani Shankar Aiyar's fascinating new book, The Rajiv I Knew.
The Karnataka high court, which dismissed the batch of petitions by some Muslim girl students from Udupi seeking permission to wear the hijab inside classrooms, said there was no material placed on record to prima facie show that wearing the headscarf was an essential religious practice.
He also lashed out at the Congress for its opposition to the GST and for dubbing it as 'Gabbar Singh Tax'.
'In the name of pluralism-secularism, the kind of politics that was pursued revealed to many that it was basically a favour to Muslim conservatism and communalism -- a politics of minority-ism, rather than of secularism.' 'This is how significant sections of Hindus have been made to loathe the very idea of Indian secularism by now,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Rahul Gandhi has not erred by not engaging with Muslim conservatives. After all, they had misled his father in 1986 to legislate a misogynistic law after the Supreme Court verdict in the Shah Bano case, which helped the BJP rise at the cost of the Congress, says Mohammad Sajjad.
'This chauvinistic attitude, what they call nationalism in the name of religion, is sad.' 'It is a tragic state that we are all in currently.'
'Some of his decisions were not so good, but his intentions were always guided by a deep national interest.'
The Supreme Court on Tuesday remarked the Gujarat government's reply to pleas challenging the remission granted to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case is very bulky wherein a series of judgments have been quoted but factual statements are missing.
Sena hit out at Congress alleging that it effected constitutional amendments to suit its "dirty politics".
'Muslims know they cannot defeat the BJP, why then come in its firing range?' 'And they know, ultimately it is the BJP MLA who is going to get elected and only he or she can do their work.' 'The BJP may do a different kind of politics for Muslims, but when they sit in the chair they work for Muslims too.'
'My religion is great and it has given a lot of rights to women, but these intermediaries are interpreting it wrongly and ruining it.' 'I have great faith in our judiciary. I am sure they will see through the drama of men.'
'But for Rajiv's bloopers, the Hindutva campaign would not have got off the ground,' Amulya Ganguli points out.
'The BJP is scared it may lose the Delhi municipal elections where they have been in power for the last 15 years.'
The SC said 'the issues are very important. These issues cannot be scuttled'.
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