Landmark Legal Reversal: Gujarat Government’s Remission Decision Overturned for Convicts in Bilkis Bano gang rape Case
SC holds Gujarat govt not competent to pass remission order, directs the convicted men to surrender within two weeks.
New Delhi, 08-01-2024 : The Supreme Court, in a significant decision, nullified the Gujarat government’s decision to grant remission (premature release) to 11 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment for the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and the killing of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat communal riots. The bench, comprising Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuvan, asserted that the Gujarat government lacked the authority to make such a decision, as the trial was conducted in Maharashtra.
The court emphasized that the determination of the appropriate government for remission orders hinges on the state where the case was tried and the sentence was pronounced, rather than the location of the occurrence or imprisonment of the accused. It ruled that the Gujarat government needed to obtain court permission before issuing remission orders, highlighting the significance of the place of trial in this context.
The decision arose from the Gujarat government’s grant of remission to 11 individuals, following a Supreme Court order in May 2022, allowing remission to an accused, Radhyesham, under similar conditions. The court strongly criticized Radhyesham for deceiving the court and obtaining a favorable order in May 2022, leading to the release of all eleven convicts. The court deemed the May 2022 judgment fraudulent and not legally valid.
The 11 convicts who received remission include Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radhyesham Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt, and Ramesh Chandana. The Gujarat government applied its remission policy, arguing that it was in line with the Supreme Court’s May 2022 directive.
The case, related to the 2002 Gujarat communal riots, was initially tried in Mumbai’s Special Court. The 11 accused faced charges of gang rape, rioting, and other offenses, leading to their life imprisonment in 2008, a decision upheld by the Bombay High Court in 2017. The convicts were accused of raping Bilkis Bano and killing seven family members, including her three-year-old daughter, during the riots. The trial was transferred from Gujarat to Mumbai, with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) handling the investigation.
Notably, a public interest litigation filed by former Communist Party of India MP Subhashini Ali, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, and others challenged the remission, adding another layer of complexity to the legal proceedings. Despite the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, all 11 convicts had already been out of jail for a year, having served the minimum prescribed imprisonment of 14 years, with their good conduct in jail considered as a factor for release.
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