SC To Hear Bilkis Bano’s Plea Against Premature Release Of Convicts On March 27, 2023

The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna will hear Bilkis Bano’s Pleas against the premature release of 11 convicts who were sentenced to life for offences involving gang rape and murder .The plea would be heard on March 27, 2023, that is, on Monday.

In the matter at hand the 11 convicts has gang raped Bilkis Bano and other women who were her female relatives during the violence of Godhara riots. They further murdered 14 members of her family including her three year old daughter. The gruesome incident took place in the Limkheda region of Gujarat during the riots. The convicts were released on August 15 in the year 2022 which further led to discussions about the remission policy followed for their premature release.

Bilkis Bano had also filed a petition against the Supreme Court’s order allowing the Gujarat government to look into the request of the release of one of the convicts. The supreme court bench comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi was supposed to hear the matter but Justice Trivedi recused herself from the hearing and it was directed that the matter should be listed before a bench without Justice Trivedi in it.

More recently on Wednesday Advocate Shobha Gupta appearing on behalf of Bano mentioned the plea before the bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud requesting for listing the matter early. To this CJI remarked -

“I will have a bench constituted. Need to break two benches for it. Will look at it this evening.”