SC notice to Gujarat in Bilkis remission case

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Gujarat government in a clutch of pleas that challenged the remission to 11 convicts who gangraped Bilkis Bano and murdered her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The court will hear the case on April 18.

Observing that crimes committed in the Bilkis Bano case were horrendous, a bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna said that it would not be swayed by emotions while deciding on the pleas.

Appearing on behalf of one of the petitioners, advocate Shobha Gupta argued that the jurisdiction to grant remission lay with Maharashtra and not Gujarat. The bench then questioned whether the Gujarat government had the jurisdiction to grant remission to the 11 convicts. The case was heard by a special court in Mumbai, which had sentenced the 11 to life imprisonment in 2008.


"We are just asking. If it is a case where palpably there is no jurisdiction, can a direction given by the court clothe the authority with jurisdiction," Justice Joseph asked. The bench said, "we have before us many murder cases where convicts are languishing in jails for remission without years. Is this a case where standards have been applied uniformly as in other cases too?"

Advocate Vrinda Grover, also appearing for the petitioners, contended that remission cannot be granted on substantive sentence. Grover added that while on parole, one of the convicts was charged for molestation. The bench asked the parties to furnish the criminal track record of the convicts. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal contended that it was no ordinary case. "The matter was transferred from Gujarat to Maharashtra because there was no confidence in Gujarat...and now the same state is deciding remission. What is this," Sibal argued. The top court had observed at the last hearing that the argument raised by the 11 that the petitioners had no right to file a plea would not arise once the victim had filed a plea.