Granting time to petitioners to file a rejoinder to the counter affidavits filed by the Gujarat authorities and the convicts, the Supreme Court docket Tuesday listed listening to the petitions difficult the remission granted to 11 convicts within the Bilkis Bano gangrape case on November 29, Stay Regulation reported.
In keeping with Bar and Bench, when the matter got here up for listening to on Tuesday, the Supreme Court docket noticed that the response filed by the Gujarat authorities to the pleas was “very cumbersome”.
A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and CT Ravikumar made the statement whereas directing the federal government to serve the State’s counter-affidavit on all events.
“It’s a very large reply…. So many judgments in a reply. The place is the factual assertion, the place is the applying of thoughts,” the Court docket requested.
The pleas are filed by CPI(M) member Subhashini Ali, journalist Revati Laul, Prof Roop Rekha Verma, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, former IPS officer Dr Meeran Chadha Borwankar, former IFS officer Madhu Badhuri, and activist Jagdeep Chhokar.
The Gujarat authorities had Monday advised the Supreme Court docket that it determined to launch the 11 convicts within the Bilkis Bano case as they’d “accomplished 14 years and above in jail… their behaviour was discovered to be good” and the Centre had additionally “conveyed (its) concurrence/ approval”.
In an affidavit filed in response to the petitions difficult the remission granted to the prisoners, the state additionally mentioned that the “Superintendent of Police, CBI, Particular Crime Department, Mumbai” and “the Particular Civil Choose (CBI), Metropolis Civil and Periods Court docket, Better Bombay”, had, in March final 12 months, opposed the early launch of the prisoners.
Bilkis was gangraped and her three-year-old daughter Saleha was amongst 14 killed by a mob on March 3, 2002, in Limkheda taluka of Dahod district, through the post-Godhra riots. Bilkis was pregnant on the time.
On August 15, 2022, the Gujarat authorities launched all of the 11 convicts within the case, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 2008, citing a “unanimous” advice of the Jail Advisory Committee (JAC) to grant them remission on grounds of “good behaviour”.