SC Denies Bilkis Bano’s Review Plea Against The Release Of 11 Convicts

The Supreme Court denied the review petition filed by Bilkis Bano who was gang-raped in 2002. Bilkis Bano filed the case last month challenging the release of the sentence of 11 convicts, saying the premature release has “shaken the conscience of society.”

The gang rape survivor also filed a separate petition contesting the ruling of the Supreme Court in May that had ruled the convict’s remission should be determined by the law in effect at the time of conviction. An email from the Supreme Court assistant registrar to Bano’s attorney Shobha Gupta stated, “I am ordered to notify you that the review petition above mentioned filed in Supreme Court was dismissed by the court on December 13, 2022.”

On May 13, an apex court panel composed of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath instructed the Gujarat government to examine the remission of sentence by the July 1992 policy, opening the door for the early release of 11 defendants in the 2002 gang rape case.

According to the bench, all subsequent proceedings, in this case, must be evaluated “in terms of the policy which is applicable in the State of Gujarat where the crime was committed and not the State (Maharashtra) where the trial is standing and concluded for exceptional reasons under the orders of this court,” after the trial is over and a judgment has been rendered.

Bilkis was gang-raped in 2002 in the Godra train burning incident when she was 5 months pregnant. The rapists also murdered her 7 family members including her three-year-old daughter.