Against Remission To Convicts In Bilkis Bano Case: Supreme Court Agrees To Constitute Special Bench

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to constitute a special bench to hear a plea against the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case, which also involves the killing of seven members of her family during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala assured Bano, represented through her lawyer Shobha Gupta, that the new bench will be formed.

Gupta mentioned the matter for urgent hearing and said a new bench needs to be constituted.
“I will have a bench constituted. Will look at it this evening,” the CJI said.
Earlier on February 7, the plea was mentioned for urgent hearing by a fresh bench and the CJI had assured Bano’s lawyer that he will set up one at the earliest.
Prior to this, the hearing on Bano’s plea could not be taken up for hearing on January 24 as the judges concerned were hearing a matter related to passive euthanasia as part of a five-judge constitution bench.
On that day, the petition was listed for hearing before a bench of justices Rastogi and CT Ravikumar.
Both justices Rastogi and Ravikumar were then busy hearing, as part of a constitution bench headed by Justice K M Joseph, the pleas seeking modification of guidelines on the execution of a “Living Will or Advance Medical Directive” for permitting passive euthanasia.
On January 4, a bench comprising justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi took up the plea, including some PILs. However, Justice Trivedi recused from hearing the case without citing any reason.
Bano had moved the apex court on November 30, 2022 challenging the “premature” release of 11 lifers by the state government, saying it has “shaken the conscience of society”.
Besides the plea challenging the release of the convicts, the gang-rape survivor had also filed a separate petition seeking a review of the apex court’s May 13, 2022 order on a plea by a convict. The review plea was later dismissed in December last year.

Verma, who is a former vice chancellor of the Lucknow University, and TMC MP Mahua Moitra against the release of the convicts.
Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed.

The investigation in the case was handed over to the CBI and the trial was transferred to a Maharashtra court by the Supreme Court.
A special CBI court in Mumbai had on January 21, 2008 sentenced the 11 to life imprisonment on charges of gang-rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven members of her family.