Top Indian court quashes release of 11 convicts in controversial Bilkis Bano case

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) – The Indian Supreme Court on Monday quashed remission granted to 11 men convicted of gang-raping a Muslim woman during Hindu-Muslim riots in 2002, and ordered them back to jail.

Bilkis Bano, who was pregnant, was gang-raped and her family members, including her three-year-old daughter, were killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

In 2022, the 11 convicts were released from jail after the authorities approved their appeal for “remission of sentence.” The decision was challenged in the top court, which reserved its judgment in October last year and delivered the judgment on Monday.

Stating the Gujarat government was not the "appropriate government" to decide the issue of remission as the trial was held in the western State of Maharashtra, the top court on Monday asked the convicts to surrender in two weeks.

Human rights groups and Muslims had expressed outrage over the release of these men serving life sentences for gang-rape and murder during the 2002 Gujarat riots, which killed over 1,000 people, the majority of whom were minority Muslims.

"It is a very good judgment which has upheld the rule of law and the faith of the people of this country, particularly the women of this country, in the rule of law, in the legal system, in the courts, and that there is an assurance of justice,” Advocate Vrinda Grover from the petitioner’s side told reporters.

Gujarat is the home state of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the state’s chief minister at the time and has been accused of not doing enough to stop the killings. The country’s top court has, however, upheld the clean chit to Modi and other officials.

According to officials, the application for remission filed by the 11 convicts was considered due to the “completion of 14 years” in jail and other factors such as “age, nature of the crime, behavior in prison, and so on.”

In 2008, a special Central Bureau of Investigation court convicted 13 people accused in the case and sentenced 11 men to life in prison on the gang-rape and murder counts.

After a 17-year legal battle, the Indian Supreme Court ordered the Gujarat government in 2019 to pay gang-rape survivor Bilkis Bano 5 million Indian rupees (then approximately $63,000), a job, and accommodation – the first such order in the Gujarat riot case.