Supreme Court News / Bilkis Bano's convicts did not get relief from SC, had sought time to surrender

Supreme Court News: In the Bilkis Bano case, the convicts had demanded extension of the surrender period. He got a big blow from the Supreme Court on Friday. The apex court has rejected the petitions filed on behalf of all the convicts. The bench of Justice BV Nagarathna rejected all the petitions and said that the previous order of the Supreme Court to surrender within two weeks should be complied with. The Supreme Court said that all the petitions are baseless and we cannot extend the date of surrender on absurd grounds. All the culprits will have to surrender on January 21.

The 11 convicts of Bilkis Bano had cited before the Supreme Court their own health as well as many family responsibilities including that of their old parents. All these convicts were serving life imprisonment in the case of gang rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven members of her family during the 2002 Gujarat riots, but in August 2022, the Gujarat government had waived their sentence.

The 11 convicts include Bakabhai Vohania, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Govind Jaswant Nai, Mitesh Bhatt, Pradeep Mordhiya, Radheshyam Shah, Rajubhai Soni, Ramesh Chandna and Shailesh Bhatt. In their petition, nine convicts sought additional time of six weeks, while one sought additional time of four weeks.

The Supreme Court had canceled the release on January 8.

On January 8, the Supreme Court had canceled the release of all the 11 Bilkis Bano convicts and ordered that all the convicts have to surrender within two weeks. All these accused are residents of Gujarat. The convicts had claimed that ever since they were released from jail, they have been living with their families and have not committed any crime. The Supreme Court had raised questions on the release of all the 11 convicts. The court had said that the Gujarat government does not have the right to forgive the punishment given in Maharashtra. The Gujarat government snatched away the power of the Maharashtra government by not filing a review petition against the May 2022 decision.