New Delhi: The exemption granted by the Gujarat government to 11 accused in the Bilkis Bano gangrape and murder case during the 2002 riots was challenged in the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
A bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana agreed to probe the matter after advocate Aparna Bhat sought urgent hearing on Wednesday.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal also referred to the matter and said: “The Supreme Court has given discretion to the government to consider it. We are challenging the exemption, not the Supreme Court order.”
The petition before the apex court was filed by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, journalist Revati Laul and social activist and professor Roop Rekha Verma.
Gujarat government released 11 convicts last Monday Bilkis Bano case from the 2002 riots. All the convicts, serving life sentences, were released after a panel of the state government approved their application for remission.
The convicts serving life imprisonment may be remitted and released after serving a sentence of not less than fourteen years. pardon Resource “reducing sentence volume without changing its character”.
As soon as the culprits were released, scenery Relatives greeted him outside Godhra jail by feeding him sweets and touching his feet.
Bano was 19 and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped. According to the prosecution, he had 14 family members including his three-year-old daughter Saleha. killed By a mob at Randhikpur village in Gujarat, when they were fleeing the Godhra riots in March 2002. Bano was 19, and five months pregnant at the time.
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