The Gujarat authorities has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a review of the court docket’s verdict that quashed the remission granted to 11 males convicted of raping Bilkis Bano and murdering seven of her members of the family through the 2002 riots, saying sure observations made towards the state have been unwarranted.
The Gujarat authorities has stated the apex court docket’s observation in the January 8 judgment, holding the state responsible of “usurpation of power” and “abuse of discretion” for complying with an order of one other prime court docket bench, was an “error apparent on the face of the record” totally on three grounds.
It has stated one other coordinate bench of the apex court docket had, in May 2022, held the state of Gujarat to be the “appropriate government” and directed the state to determine the remission software of one of the convicts in accordance with the remission coverage of 1992.
“No adverse inference of ‘usurpation of power’ can be drawn against the state of Gujarat for not filing a review petition against the judgment dated May 13, 2022 (of the coordinate bench),” the review plea says.
“It is humbly submitted that the extreme observation made by this court that the state of Gujarat ‘acted in tandem and was complicit with respondent no. 3/accused’ is not only highly unwarranted and against the record of the case, but has caused serious prejudice to the petitioner-state of Gujarat,” it says.
According to the plea, in view of the “errors on the face of the record”, the apex court docket’s interference is crucial and it might be “pleased to review its impugned common final judgment and order dated January 8, 2024…to the extent as mentioned hereinabove”.
In its January 8 verdict, the apex court docket had quashed the remission granted to the 11 males convicted in the case and ordered that they be despatched again to jail inside two weeks.
Bilkis Bano was 21 years outdated and 5 months pregnant when she was raped by the boys whereas fleeing the horror of the communal riots that broke out in Gujarat after the Godhra train-burning incident in February 2002. Her three-year-old daughter was amongst her seven members of the family killed.
All 11 convicts have been granted remission by the Gujarat authorities and launched on August 15, 2022.
SC had held as nullity the May 13, 2022 judgment of one other bench of the highest court docket, which had directed the Gujarat authorities to contemplate the remission software of one of the convicts in the case, saying it was obtained by “playing fraud on court”.
“This is a classic case where the order of this court dated May 13, 2022 has been used for violating the rule of law while passing orders of remission in favour of respondent nos. 3 to 13 (convicts) in the absence of any jurisdiction by the state of Gujarat,” a bench of justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had stated.
“Therefore, with out going into the style in which the facility of remission has been exercised, we strike down the orders of remission on the bottom of usurpation of powers by the state of Gujarat not vested in it.
The orders of remission are therefore quashed,” it had stated.
