Setback For Bilkis Bano In Supreme Court Case Against Release Of 11 Rape-Murder Convicts
NDTV
Bilkis Bano had filed 2 cases: One to review court order that asked Gujarat to consider release request; other challenges the eventual release decision
The Supreme Court has dismissed one of two petitions filed by Gujarat riots victim Bilkis Bano's on the release of 11 men who raped her and killed several of her family members during the 2002 communal violence.
The dismissed request had asked the court to review its May 2022 order that told the Gujarat government to consider the convicts' release plea. Her other petition, which challenges the very grounds of the release, is not immediately affected by this decision, though. A detailed order wasn't yet available.
The 11 convicts serving life term walked out of jail on August 15 as they were granted premature release — on account of "good behaviour" — under a 1992 policy by Gujarat's BJP government with a nod from the Union Home Ministry.
The latest policy says gangrape and murder convicts cannot be grated early release, but the Supreme Court had agreed with the argument that the 1992 policy, which had no such exception, applied to these men. That 1992 policy was, technically, in effect when the men were convicted in 2008.
