THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, Jan 8: The Gujarat government’s decision to provide remission to 11 prisoners in the case of Bilkis Bano’s gangrape and the murder of seven of her family members during the state’s 2002 riots was overturned by the Supreme Court on Monday.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan stated that the Gujarat government was not the appropriate government to issue the remission order, holding the PIL contesting the remission to be maintainable.
While escaping the tragedy of the communal riots that erupted following the Godhra train-burning event, Bilkis Bano, then 21 years old and five months pregnant, was raped. One of the seven family members slain in the rioting was her three-year-old daughter.
On August 15, 2022, the Gujarat government awarded remission to all 11 of the convicted individuals, and they were all released.
Fraud act, facts suppressed: SC
The top court ruled that key facts were suppressed and that “playing fraud” on the court was used to achieve the May 13, 2022, ruling, which ordered the Gujarat government to consider remission of the convict.
“By suppressing material facts and making misleading facts, a direction was sought by a convict to the state of Gujarat to consider remission. There was no direction from this court to the Gujarat government to consider remission. This is a fraud act,” the bench stated.