Supreme Court: In batch of pleas against the pre-mature release of 11 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment, who had gang raped Bilkis Bano and murdered her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots, the division bench of KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna,JJ has termed the crime committed by the convicts as “horrendous”, and issued notice to the Central Government, and Gujarat Government.
The Gujarat Government had released the 11 convicts on 15-08-2023 as the convicts have completed 14 years sentence in prison and due to their good behavior. Aggrieved by this, Bilkis Bano filed a petition against the premature release of the convicts.
Bilkis Bano had also filed a review petition seeking review of the Supreme Court’s decision, wherein it ruled that remission of the convicts should be considered as per the policy existing at the time of conviction in the State where the crime was committed and not the State where the trial was transferred to and concluded. However, the review petition was dismissed.
In the present matter, the Bench said that it would not be overwhelmed by emotions and will decide the matter as per the law.
The matter will next be taken up on 18-04-2023
Source: Press