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 father of the Delhi gang rape victim said people should see the documentary, India's Daughter, because it "holds up a mirror to our society".
One of the accused in December 16 gang rape case on Friday claimed before a special court that he had never seen the 23-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by six persons in a moving bus and had only heard about it.
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.
Questioning the role of the Centre and Delhi government, the parents of December 16 gangrape victim asked why no action was taken earlier to stop the release of the juvenile.
The owner of the bus, in which a 23-year-old girl was gangraped on December 16 last year, on Thursday deposed as a prosecution witness in a Delhi court and said the vehicle was in continuous custody of its driver Ram Singh on the day of the incident and the following day also.
The Centre said that several mandatory aspects were missing from the post-release rehabilitation plan which needed to be considered before setting him free.
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.
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".
Lawyer Seema Kushwaha, who is representing the Dalit woman's family, said on Thursday that they will challenge the verdict in the high court.
The 11 convicts on Monday walked out of the Godhra sub-jail after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy.
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.
'We are scared. Several people have left the village out of fear of violence from the side of the convicts after their release'
Bano was gang-raped and seven members of her family were killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Women Of My Billion is stark and disturbing, but at the end of it Srishti Bakshi is still able to say, 'My India is not beyond repair', observes Deepa Gahlot.
How the Tamil Nadu police bungled the brutal gangrape of a differently-abled teenager and the family's fight for justice.
The three-judge panel denied a request by Alves's lawyer Ines Guardiola for the trial to be suspended on the basis that he was not given enough time to prepare for his first police interview after his arrest and had suffered a parallel trial by media.
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.
Seeing the fire engulf the mortal remains of his daughter, who was with him till last week, he fell to the ground and was rushed to a hospital.
However, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra refrained from handing over the probe to the CBI and directed that the trial be fast-tracked to ensure there was no delay.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said the reasons cited by the convicts have no merits.
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.
The three accused were taken to the Police Line by the special investigation team headed by IPS officer Monika Bhardwaj for a joint interrogation.
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.
The police, which had initially claimed that it was a case of suicide, later arrested the five accused and started a probe.
"Is being part of Modi's 'political family' a 'guarantee of protection' for criminals?" Rahul Gandhi asked.
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.
Advocate Pathick Chandra Das, who represented the rape survivor, told PTI he was moving the Supreme Court against the bail order.
"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.
Senior Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Kamal Nath on Tuesday asked whether it is needed to say separately that India is a 'Hindu Rashtra' given the fact that 82 per cent of Hindus live in the country.
A special court has declined to discharge a police officer from charges of failing to record a rape complaint against BJP ex-MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in 2017 by a minor victim, officials said.
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'.
