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.
In the manifesto released on Saturday, the Congress also promised unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 per month, Rs 2,000 pension to divyangs, widows, senior citizens and needy women, and waiver of loans of up to Rs 3 lakh of all fishermen, among other things.
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".
Bano was gang-raped and seven members of her family were killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
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.
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.
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.
The dismissal means the officer will not get benefits entitled to retired government employees.
The Bombay high court has reserved the judgment on the bail pleas of seven convicts in the 2002 Bilkis Bano gang-rape case. All the seven were sentenced to life imprisonment by the trial court in 2008 following which they have filed appeals against the verdict and sought bail pending the disposal of appeals.
The gangrape victim said there were many other women like her in Gujarat.
Bano is ready for a new beginning and is hoping to see her elder daughter become a lawyer.
A bench of Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao, while rejecting their appeals, said the trial court had unreasonably acquitted them.
18 people stand convicted in the case.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre and the Gujarat government to submit by October 16 the original records related to the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Bano had earlier refused to accept the offer of Rs 5 lakh and had sought exemplary compensation from the state government in a plea before the top court.
'All the convicts must be either hanged for or they must be kept behind bars for the remainder of their lives. Only then justice will be served'
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan also rejected the application for listing review petition in open 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.
'I see this judgment as a chance to say 'Boo' to the dark. But we shouldn't lose sight of the larger darkness that we have to keep fighting in everyday ways.'
"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.
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.
"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.
'The Supreme Court has now demonstrated its capacity to right its own wrongs, and to place the rule of law above all else.'
Commencing arguments on the plea challenging the remission granted last year to all the 11 convicts, advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for Bilkis Bano, submitted she was brutally gang-raped while she was pregnant and her first child was smashed with a rock to death.
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Prashant Kumar Mishra noted, in accordance with its May 9 order, notices have been published in local newspapers, including those in Gujarati and English, against the convicts who could not be served (the notice).
The Supreme Court on Monday fixed August 7 for the start of the final hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the remission granted last year 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.
'What did these men mean to the government? What does its support for these men say about this government?'
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.
The top court said the faith of people in the efficacy of law is the saviour and succour for the sustenance of the rule of law.
Police have detained social activist Sandeep Pandey and three others ahead of a foot march planned on Monday to express solidarity with Bilkis Bano, who was gang-raped and seven of her family members murdered during the 2002 Gujarat riots, police said.
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".
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".
Diwali celebrations have started in the United States from the iconic Times Square in New York, with the United States Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump celebrating the festival of lights at their residences on Friday.
'The lesson you taught was that you will free the murderers of Bilkis' three-year-old daughter. You also taught us that Ahsan Jafri can be killed. You taught the lesson of Gulbarga bakery, you taught the lesson of Best bakery lesson'
The Gujarat government has said the apex court's observation in the January 8 judgment, holding the state guilty of "usurpation of power" and "abuse of discretion" for complying with an order of another top court bench, was an "error apparent on the face of the record" primarily on three grounds.
'The state of Gujarat was to my mind 'partisan and over enthusiastic' in the way it dealt with remission applications.'
'She had the courage to not cow down before the entire law and order apparatus, to remain sane and human despite inhuman suffering meted out to her and her family.'
As the Queen star found herself in the middle of a row, with the BJP distancing itself and the Congress attacking it, here's a look at some of the controversies, political and otherwise.
Dominic Xavier offers his take on the Gujarat government's decision to release all 11 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment for gang rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven members of her family during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
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