Bilkis Bano Convicts' Bail Pleas Dismissed. What Supreme Court Said

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed interim bail petitions filed by two men – Radheyshyam Bhagwandas and Rajubhai Babulal – who had been convicted of raping Bilkis Bano and killing her family during the 2002 riots in Gujarat’s Godhra.

Bhagwandas and Babualal had sought temporary release till the top court ruled on a fresh remission plea. They have filed a challenge to the court’s January verdict that cancelled their release by the Gujarat government on Independence Day in 2022.

Bilkis Bano Convicts’ Appeal

In March, Bhagwandas and Babulal moved the court contending the January verdict contravened a 2002 order by the Constitution bench and asked that the issue – of their remission by the Gujarat government being cancelled – be referred to a larger bench.

They claimed an “anomalous” situation had arisen; i.e., two different benches of the Supreme Court, both of same strength, had taken diametrically opposite views on the state government’s policy of early release of prisoners.

According to the plea today, in May 2022 one bench directed the state to consider Bhagwandas’ plea for early release. However, the bench that delivered the verdict said it was the Maharashtra, and not Gujarat, that was competent to grant remission.

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“… if this is permitted then it would lead not only to judicial impropriety but to uncertainty and chaos as to which precedence (sic) of law has to be applied in future,” the plea argued, warning that the January 8 verdict could be used as legal precedence.

The plea sought a direction to the centre to consider the case for premature release and clarify which judgement – May 13, 2022, or January 8, 2024, – will be applicable.

“My lords… now with two court decisions… if I can be allowed to approach the authority,” advocate Rishi Malhotra, who filed the plea for Bhagwandas and Babulal, said.

What Supreme Court Said

“What is this plea… how is it even maintainable? Absolutely misconceived… How can we sit on appeal in PIL (public interest litigation),” Justice Sanjiv Khanna declared.

“There are two judgments… earlier judgment (the May ruling) was considered in the second (the January verdict) … under Article 32 (which gives every individual the right to move the Supreme Court for enforcement of fundamental rights) …” he said.

“We are not sitting in appeal…” the court ruled.

Court’s Bilkis Bano January Verdict

In the January judgment, the court had been extremely critical of its May 2022 ruling, delivered by Justice Ajay Rastogi (now retired), and said the Gujarat government should have sought its review.

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It noted the release had been ordered based on a 1992 remission policy that had been superseded by a 2014 law and sent the 11 convicts back to jail.

In August 2022, the 11 convicts – serving life sentences – were granted premature release after the state accepted their remission pleas in keeping with a 1992 policy and cited their “good conduct”.

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Criticising the Gujarat government, the Supreme Court said it had “usurped” the power of its Maharashtra counterparts to grant remission to the convicts.

Bilkis Bano was 21 years old, and had been pregnant for five months, when she was raped. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed.

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