'Released 11 Convicts In Bilkis Bano Case Because...': Gujarat Files Affidavit In Supreme Court

The 11 convicts were handed life sentence for the gang-rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven of her family members.

A file photo of Bilkis Bano

Source : Getty Images

The Gujarat government on Monday, in an affidavit in the Supreme Court, said it decided to grant remission to the 11 men convicted for the gang rape of Bilkis Bano during the 2002 Gujarat riots as they completed 14 years sentence in prison and their "behaviour was found to be good", ANI reported. In its affidavit, the Gujarat government said the Union Home Ministry had approved the premature release of the convicts through a letter dated 11.07.2022.

The 11 convicts were released from the Godhra sub-jail on August 15 after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its 1992 remission policy, sparking nationwide outrage.

In September, the Supreme Court had directed the Gujarat government to file all records that formed the basis for granting remission to all the accused in the case.

"We are only concerned if there was an application of mind in granting the remission and if it was within the parameters of law," the SC bench had said.

READ | 'Trauma Of Past 20 Years Washed Over Me Again': Bilkis Bano On Release Of Convicts

The SC direction came after a petition was filed by Subhashini Ali, a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), journalist Revati Laul and Professor Roop Rekha Verma against the early release of the convicts in the Bilkis Bano case. A similar plea was also filed by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra. 

The Gujarat government said the plea was neither maintainable in law nor tenable on facts, and argued that the petitioners had no locus to challenge the remissions orders.

Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gangraped while fleeing the riots in Gujarat that broke out after the Sabarmati Express was attacked in Godhra in 2002. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven killed.

A special CBI court in Mumbai had on January 21, 2008 sentenced the 11 convicts to life imprisonment in the case for murder and gang-rape. Their conviction was later upheld by the Bombay High Court.

Following the release of the convicts, Bilkis Bano, in a statement, said her faith in justice had been shaken and left her numb. Criticising the decision to let the convicts free, she said that nobody enquired about her safety and well-being before taking "such a big and unjust decision".