Bilkis Bano case: Supreme Court agrees to hear PIL challenging remission to 11 convicts | India News
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a petition challenging the remission granted to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case.
A bench headed by CJI N V Ramana asked the counsel whether the release was on the basis of an order passed by the top court.
The PIL was mentioned by advocates Aparna Bhat and Kapil Sibal.
Sibal said that petitioner is not questioning the SC order but the basis on which remission was granted to these 11 convicts.
SC was informed that a bench headed by Justice Ajay Rastogi had permitted the Gujarat government to apply the remission rules prevailing at the time of conviction of the 11 accused in the case. The CJI said the petition will be listed soon before appropriate bench.
The 11 convicts walked out of the Godhra sub-jail on August 15 after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy. They had completed more than 15 years in jail.
A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mumbai on January 21, 2008, sentenced the 11 to life imprisonment on charges of gangrape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano’s family. Their conviction was later upheld by the Bombay High Court. Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the violence that broke out after the Godhra train burning. Among those killed was her three-year-old daughter.
(With inputs from agencies)
A bench headed by CJI N V Ramana asked the counsel whether the release was on the basis of an order passed by the top court.
The PIL was mentioned by advocates Aparna Bhat and Kapil Sibal.
Sibal said that petitioner is not questioning the SC order but the basis on which remission was granted to these 11 convicts.
SC was informed that a bench headed by Justice Ajay Rastogi had permitted the Gujarat government to apply the remission rules prevailing at the time of conviction of the 11 accused in the case. The CJI said the petition will be listed soon before appropriate bench.
The 11 convicts walked out of the Godhra sub-jail on August 15 after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy. They had completed more than 15 years in jail.
A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mumbai on January 21, 2008, sentenced the 11 to life imprisonment on charges of gangrape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano’s family. Their conviction was later upheld by the Bombay High Court. Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the violence that broke out after the Godhra train burning. Among those killed was her three-year-old daughter.
(With inputs from agencies)
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