The Supreme court of India on Monday quashed the Gujarat Government’s decision to grant remission to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case and ordered the convicts who had been prematurely released to surrender within two weeks. The 11 convicts were serving life imprisonment for the gang rape of five months pregnant Bilkis Bano and murder of seven of her family members, including her three-year-old daughter on 3 March 2002 in Limkheda taluka of Dahod district of Gujarat during the post Godhra riots.
Jaswantbhai Nai, Govindbhai Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radheshyam Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt, and Ramesh Chandana were released under Gujarat Government’s remission after they completed more than 15 years in jail. Upon their release on 15th August 2022, the convicts were welcomed with sweets and garlands outside Godhra sub-jail.
The Supreme Court on Monday slammed the Gujarat government for acting in tandem with the convict who had moved the top court seeking a direction for the consideration of his premature release application, Live Law stated. A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan called the remission orders ‘usurpation of power’ and ‘abuse of discretion’ by the Gujarat government.
“The exercise of power by the State of Gujarat is an instance of usurpation of power and abuse of power. This is a classic case where the order of this court was used to violate the rule of law by granting remission. On that ground also, the remission orders deserve to be quashed,” Live Law quoted Justice BV Nagarathna.
Meanwhile, Opposition Parties hailed the verdict of the Supreme Court and took a hit at the BJP.
CPI(M), welcoming the judgment, stated “The fact that the Gujarat government has furnished that the decision was also based on the concurrence of the Central government, makes the Central government equally complicit in this ‘complicity with the convicts’. That the remission did not take into account, the brutality of the crimes and its larger consequence on the society and the rule of law is obvious.”
Governments are Constitutional entities and if they act in violation of the jurisdiction and considerations of law, it will play havoc with our very existence as a democracy, CPI (M) added in its statement.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi maintained that the SC ruling has exposed the “hollow claims” made by the BJP on women’s empowerment and demanded that PM Modi and BJP apologise to Bilkis Bano and her family.
All India Mahila Congress President Alka Lamba said that on Independence Day 2022, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was giving a speech on the Amrit Mahotsav of Independence from the Red Fort, the rapists of Bilkis Bano were being released in Gujarat. She said that the convicts were then welcomed in the VHP office and later BJP MPs and MLAs shared the stage with them. After this Judgement of the Supreme Court, PM Modi and BJP leaders should apologize to crores of daughters of the country, because BJP has been exposed today, Lamba remarked.
Speaking at the same media conference on Monday, Congress Spokesperson Dr Abhishek Singhvi accused the BJP governments in the Centre and the State of protecting the rapists and providing them “a lot of facilities” when they were in jail. But sin is neither easily dealt with nor easily hidden, he said, claiming that the real face of BJP has come to light.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has also said that the Supreme Court’s decision has once again told the country who is the ‘patron of criminals’. “Bilkis Bano’s tireless struggle is a symbol of the victory of justice against the arrogant BJP government,” he added in his post on X.
The All India Trinamool Congress said that the verdict if the Supreme Court “is a slap on the face of BJP who facilitated the release of these criminals and glorified the convicts!”
Some convicts in Bilkis Bano case are ‘Brahmins with good sanskaar’, says Gujarat BJP MLA
