Bilkis case remission: Gujarat govt defends in SC, says convicts granted bail for good behaviour

New Delhi, Oct 17: The Gujarat government defended in the Supreme Court grant of remission to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case saying they were eligible for relief after serving 14 years and questioned the locus standi of PIL petitioners Subhashini Ali and others to challenge the decision being outsiders to the case.

In its affidavit, the state govt said that the remission granted to 11 convicts in Bilkis Bano Case was under 1992 remission policy and not circular issued under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. It also said that since the investigation in the case was carried out by the CBI, it had obtained "suitable orders" for grant of remission of the convicts from the Centre.

Referring to the 1976 verdict of the apex court, the state government said that a "person aggrieved" should be one who has personal and individual right in the subject matter and that there is infringement of the said legal right or prejudice to some legal interest. It said that to invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction of this court and to seek a writ under Article 32 of the Constitution, it is clear that the person has to be a "person aggrieved", meaning the decision of the authority ought to be materially averse to the said person.

"In the present case, there is not even a whisper in the pleadings as to how the petitioner is aggrieved by the order passed by the respondent granting remission to the 11 convicts who have already suffered incarceration for more than 14 years. Thus, on the ground also the present petition is liable to be dismissed," it said.

The affidavit said that the petitioner being a "third-party stranger", has no locus to challenge the remission orders passed by the competent authority as per applicable law in the instant case under the "garb of PIL". "It is submitted that it is well settled that a PIL is not maintainable in a criminal matter. The petitioner is in no way connected to the proceedings which either convicted the accused in question nor with the proceedings which culminated in grant of remission to the convicts. Thus, a petition at the instance of a mere busybody which has political machinations is liable to be dismissed," it said.

The state government said that like a third party stranger either under the provisions of the CrPC or under any other statute is precluded to question the correctness of grant or refusal of "sanction for prosecution or the conviction and sentence imposed by the court after a regular trial, similarly a third party stranger is precluded from questioning a remission order passed by the State".

It said that the petitioner in the PIL, who is admittedly a political functionary, has not even pleaded that how she has the locus to see a writ to quash the remission order of the 11 convicts in the case.

"The petitioner has nowhere in the writ petition has pleaded as to how her fundamental rights have been abridged and as to how she is aggrieved by the action of the state government. The mandatory pleadings of locus and infringement of fundamental rights is conspicuously missing from the writ petition", it said.

The state government said that its bonafide belief that the present petition is nothing but an abuse of PIL jurisdiction of this court and is motivated by "political intrigues and machinations".

The 11 accused -- Radheshyam shah, Jaswant Chaturbhai Nai, Keshubhai Vadaniya, Bakabhai Vadaniya, Rajibhai Soni, Rameshbhai Chauhan, Shaileshbhai Bhatt, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Govindbhai Nai, Mitesh Bhatt, Pradip Modhiya were sentenced to life imprisonment on the charge of gang rape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano's family.

A special CBI court in Mumbai on January 21, 2008 had sentenced the 11 eleven accused to life imprisonment, and the conviction was later upheld by the Bombay high Court.