Bilkis Bano Files Case At Supreme Court Opposing Release Of 11 Rape Convicts

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has received a petition from Bilkis Bano opposing the commuted sentences and release of the gang rape defendants from the case from 2002. For gang raping her and killing her family members, the 11 men received life sentences.

When the riots that erupted in Gujarat following the Godhra train burning incident were being fled by Bilkis Bano, then 21 years old and five months pregnant, she was gang-raped. One of the seven family members killed was her three-year-old daughter.

The Gujarat government approved the release of the 11 men under its remission policy, and they left the Godhra sub-jail on August 15. They'd spent more than 15 years behind bars.

Bilkis Bano contested the Supreme Court's decision in May to permit the Gujarat government to use the 1992 remission criteria in the case on Wednesday. Additionally, she submitted a writ petition against the early release of 11 rape prisoners.

The argument made in the case was that the state of Maharashtra's remission policy would apply and that the 11 convicts could not have been allowed to be released from prison.

Today, the petition was brought up for listing before Chief Justice DY Chandrachud of the Supreme Court. CJI Chandrachud stated that he would look at the question of whether both pleas could be considered concurrently and by the same bench.

Earlier this year, when a petition contesting the discharge of 11 individuals convicted of gangraping Bilkis Bano during the Gujarat riots in 2002 was filed, the Supreme Court requested the Gujarat government's answer.

Along with serving notice on the Gujarat government and asking for its response, the bench presided over by Chief Justice N V Ramana directed the petitioners to name those who had been given remission as parties in the case.

According to reports, Bilkis and 16 other family members from the Dahod district's Randhikpur village fled the 2002 Gujarat riots and sought refuge in the fields of the nearby village of Chhaparwad. More than 20 rioters attacked and sexually assaulted other women on March 3, 2002, including Bilkis, who was five months pregnant.

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