Supreme Court Rejects Gujarat's Review Plea In Bilkis Bano Case Remission

The Supreme Court has denied the Gujarat government's request to review its earlier decision that revoked the remission granted to 11 men convicted in the Bilkis Bano case. These individuals were found guilty of raping Bano and murdering seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

A bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan stated that they found no apparent error or merit in the review petitions that would warrant reconsidering the challenged order. The Gujarat government had contested certain observations made against the state in the January 8 Supreme Court ruling.

The state government argued that the Supreme Court had made an "error apparent on the face of the record" by holding the state responsible for "usurpation of power" and "abuse of discretion" in complying with an order from another top court bench. The government presented three main reasons to support its claim of an obvious mistake.

The case dates back to 2002 when Bilkis Bano, then 21 years old and pregnant, was gang-raped while fleeing the Gujarat riots. Her young daughter was among seven family members killed in the attack. In 2008, 11 men were sentenced to life imprisonment for these crimes.

On August 15, 2022, these convicts were released under the Gujarat government's remission policy. However, on January 8, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that Gujarat lacked the authority to grant remission, as this power rested with Maharashtra, where the trial occurred. The Court nullified the remission and ordered the convicts to surrender.

The Supreme Court emphasized that the convicts were "erroneously" freed in violation of the law, stressing the court's role in upholding the rule of law to prevent a "dangerous state of affairs" in India's democracy.