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NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Friday refused to extend the deadline of January 21 fixed by it for 11 convicts to surrender and go back to jail to serve their sentence of life imprisonment for gang-raping Bilkis Bano and killing 14 members of her family in the 2002 Gujarat communal riots.
It took only a few minutes for a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan to decide the plea of the convicts, who had cited medical problems and family responsibilities to seek extension.
“The reasons cited by the 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 court said.
At the outset of the hearing, one of the lawyers appearing for the convicts urged the court that some “breathing time” be given to them to “put their houses in order” before returning to jail. However, the bench said it had granted them two weeks to manage their affairs.
The court was so categorical that advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for Bilkis, did not even have to argue her case.
Now, the convicts — Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah, Jaswantbhai Nai, Govind Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt and Ramesh Chandana — will have to surrender by Sunday.
On January 8, the court had quashed Gujarat government’s decision to grant them remission and directed them to surrender. Allowing the plea of Bilkis, who had challenged their remission, the court found fault not only with Gujarat government’s decision but also with the order passed by SC in 2022 that triggered the remission process. In that order, SC had directed the state to decide the remission plea of one convict.
It also said the 2022 order was obtained by convict Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah by misleading the court and he had “stealthily” approached SC by hiding various facts. The bench noted that Shah had earlier filed a remission plea before Maharashtra government, too, and all authorities, including the special CBI court, had opined against premature release.
Bilkis was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped and her family, including a two-day-old infant, were murdered. Her three-year-old daughter was killed by smashing her head on a rock.
It took only a few minutes for a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan to decide the plea of the convicts, who had cited medical problems and family responsibilities to seek extension.
“The reasons cited by the 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 court said.
At the outset of the hearing, one of the lawyers appearing for the convicts urged the court that some “breathing time” be given to them to “put their houses in order” before returning to jail. However, the bench said it had granted them two weeks to manage their affairs.
The court was so categorical that advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for Bilkis, did not even have to argue her case.
Now, the convicts — Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah, Jaswantbhai Nai, Govind Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt and Ramesh Chandana — will have to surrender by Sunday.
On January 8, the court had quashed Gujarat government’s decision to grant them remission and directed them to surrender. Allowing the plea of Bilkis, who had challenged their remission, the court found fault not only with Gujarat government’s decision but also with the order passed by SC in 2022 that triggered the remission process. In that order, SC had directed the state to decide the remission plea of one convict.
It also said the 2022 order was obtained by convict Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah by misleading the court and he had “stealthily” approached SC by hiding various facts. The bench noted that Shah had earlier filed a remission plea before Maharashtra government, too, and all authorities, including the special CBI court, had opined against premature release.
Bilkis was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped and her family, including a two-day-old infant, were murdered. Her three-year-old daughter was killed by smashing her head on a rock.
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