NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will consider today Bilkis Bano’s plea seeking a review of its order by which it had directed the Gujarat government to consider releasing one of the convicts based on the state’s 1992 remission policy. Bilkis was gang-raped by the convicts during the Godhra riots in Gujarat when she was 20 years and five months pregnant & the 1992 policy did not prohibit the remission of rape, gang rape or murder convicts.
Bano’s review plea will be heard in chambers by the bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath. Apart from the review, Bilkis had also challenged the release of 11 convicts who walked free on August 15, 2022, when the country was celebrating its 76th Independence Day which will also be heard by the bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi in open court.
On Monday, CJI DY Chandrachud led the bench had agreed to consider the early listing of her plea. “Review plea will come up. It’s a review it’ll come up before the bench but by circulation. I’ll have it placed early,” the CJI had said. The order against which Bilkis has sought review was delivered by the bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath on May 13 while hearing a plea by one of the convicts Radhey Shyam.
It has been argued in the review petition that Bilkis who is the victim was not even made a party in one of the convicts, RadheyShyam’s plea before the SC. With regards to the delay in filing the review petition, the plea says, “took enormous efforts and time for the present review petitioner- victim of one of the most gruesome and inhuman communal hate crimes this country has ever witnessed, to collect courage and regroup herself to decide to hold the baton once again, after just getting over with the extremely excruciating 17 years long drawn legal battle in ensuring that her culprits are punished for the egregious crime they had committed.”
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