Bilkis Bano Convicts Back In Jail: SC Overturns Release, Doubts Gujarat's Remission Power

In a blow to the Gujarat government, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the petition filed by Bilkis Bano challenging the remission of 11 convicts in maintainable.

The 11 convicts -- Jaswantbhai Nai, Govindbhai Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radhesham Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt, and Ramesh Chandana -- walked out of jail on August 15 last year.

After an intensive 11-day hearing that concluded on October 12, 2023, a two-judge bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan reserved their verdict on the pleas challenging the release of the convicts.

Reading out the judgment on Monday, Justice Nagarathna also said that Gujarat government lacked competence to pass the remission order as the trial was being held in Maharashtra.

Bilkis Bano, the petitioner, was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped during the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train-burning incident in 2002. Seven of her family members, including her three-year-old daughter, were killed in the riots.

Bano registered a case in Gujarat, however, the trial of the case was shifted to Mumbai. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was investigating the case.

After years of investigation, a special court in Mumbai in 2008 sentenced the 11 accused to life imprisonment. The decision was upheld by a division bench of the Bombay High Court in 2017.

The case then attracted the headlines again on August 15, 2022 when all the 11 convicts were granted remission by the Gujarat government and were released.While reserving the judgment on October 12 last year, the apex court directed the central and Gujarat governments to submit the original records related to the remission of sentence of the 11 convicts by October 16, 2023.

Notably, apart from the petition filed by Bano contesting the remission granted to the 11 convicts by the Gujarat government, several other PILs, including one by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, independent journalist Revati Laul and former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University Roop Rekha Verma, have challenged the relief. TMC leader Mahua Moitra has also filed a PIL against the remission and premature release of the convicts in the case.