On Saturday, the Supreme Court denied the petition for review filed by gangrape survivor Bilkis Bano, who sought a review of the May 2022 ruling that maintained the Gujarat Government had the authority to decide the remission applications of 11 convicts. Bano, who was gang-raped and had seven members of her family murdered during the Gujarat riots of 2002, petitioned the Supreme Court last month, arguing that the premature release of 11 prisoners in the case “shook the conscience of society.”
In addition to the petition contesting the release of the convicts, the victim of a gang rape also filed a separate petition requesting a review of the supreme court’s May 13, 2022 ruling on a guilty plea. The supreme court had requested that the state government assess the convicts’ appeal for early release in accordance with its 9 July 1992 guideline requiring a decision on a remission petition within two months.
The counsel representing Bano urged a bench composed of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha to expeditiously consider her two separate petitions, one contesting the remission and the other seeking a review of the highest court’s instruction. In her appeal against the grant of clemency that resulted to the release of the convicts on August 15, Bano claimed that the state administration issued a “mechanical order” that utterly disregarded the Supreme Court’s legal requirements.
“The widespread early release of criminals in the much-discussed Bilkis Bano case has shook the social conscience and sparked a number of protests around the country,” she stated in the petition. Referring to previous rulings, the defence argued that mass commutations are not permissible and that such a remedy cannot be sought or given as a matter of right without considering the case of each offender individually based on their unique circumstances and role in the crime.
“The present writ petition challenges the decision of the State/Central Government granting remission to all 11 convicts and releasing them prematurely in one of the most heinous crimes of extreme inhuman violence and brutality by a group of human beings against another group of human beings, all helpless and innocent people – most of them were either women or minors, by chasing them for days together persuaded by hatred towards a particular community,” it said.
