Indian SC dismisses plea by convicts seeking extension in time to surrender in Bilkis Bano case
New Delh: The Indian Supreme Court on Friday dismissed applications filed by 11 men convicted of gang-raping Bilkis Bano and killing seven of her family members during the 2002 anti-Muslim riots seeking additional time to surrender.
According to Kashmir Media Service, a Bench led by Justice NV Nagarathna dismissing their pleas said, “The reasons cited by applicants to seek postponement of surrender and report back to jail have no merit inasmuch as those reasons in no way prevent them from complying with our directions.”
The Bench had on January 8 quashed the remission granted to them by the Gujarat government and ordered them to surrender before the jail authorities concerned in two weeks.
After Friday’s order, all 11 convicts — Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt and Ramesh Chandana will now have to surrender by January 22.
The convicts had sought extension of the deadline to surrender on grounds varying from failing health, impending surgery and son’s marriage to harvesting crops. They were released on August 15 last year.
The Supreme Court on January 8 quashed the premature release of the 11 convicts in the case, saying the Gujarat government didn’t have the jurisdiction to deal with their remission pleas. It had slammed the Gujarat government for being “complicit” and acting in tandem with one of the convicts and usurpation of powers not vested in it in granting remission to the convicts.
Bilkis Bano, pregnant at the time of crime, was gang-raped and her three-year-old daughter and 13 others were killed by Hindu fanatics on March 3, 2002 in Dahod during the anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat.
