Bilkis Bano Case | SC seeks response from Gujarat government on remission for convicts

The Supreme Court of India. (File image)

The Supreme Court on August 25 issued notice to the Gujarat government on petitions challenging the remission of sentence of convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case.

Three petitions had moved the Supreme Court challenging the Gujarat government's decision to grant early release to 11 men convicted in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case. The convicts were awarded a life term on gang rape as well as murder charges.

The convicts were granted early release under the Gujarat government's 1992 remission policy.

The state government's decision came on a plea filed by one of the convicts who had approached the Supreme Court seeking remission after completing 14 years in prison. The top court directed the state government to take a decision on the plea in exercise of its powers for grant of remission prescribed under the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The remission of sentence of the convicts caused uproar in various sections of the society that questioned leniency shown towards men convicted of grave offences.

The court has agreed to hear the plea and has directed for the 11 convicts to be added as parties in the case.

The men were held guilty by a special court in Mumbai in 2008 and their conviction was upheld by Bombay High Court affirmed thereafter by the Supreme Court. The convicts were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The remission plea by the convicts was considered by the state government's panel under the state's 1992 remission policy considering that this policy was in force at the time of their conviction. The 1992 policy allowed for early release of convicts with a life-term if a 14-year-long sentence had been served. This policy allowed for these men to be released.

Pertinently, the 1992 policy was scrapped and replaced with a policy in 2014 which carved out exceptions for being considered for remission of sentence. The exceptions include cases tried by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and cases where the convicts were granted capital punishment which was commuted to a life term or convicts awarded life imprisonment for grave offences.