New Delhi: The Supreme Court accepted the case against the Gujarat government’s acquittal of 11 people in the Bilgis Banu gang rape case.
In 2002, during the riots that followed the Godhra train burning incident in Gujarat, a pregnant woman named Bilgis Banu was gang-raped by a gang. 7 members of his family including his child were murdered by the mob. This incident shocked the country.
In this long-running case, 11 accused were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2008. In this case, under the 1992 sentence reduction policy, the Gujarat government granted sentence reduction to those who were in jail for more than 14 years. Subsequently, all 11 people were released on the 15th.
This move by the Gujarat government is highly controversial. Criticism arose that their petitions were not considered under the existing policy. Opposition parties including the Congress strongly opposed the release of 11 people.
Meanwhile, three people, including Marxist leader Subashini Ali, filed a case in the Supreme Court against the Gujarat government’s commutation of sentences to all 11 people.
The case came up for hearing yesterday before a bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and Advocate Aparna Bhat appeared for the petitioners.
Then, “Are all the 11 released based on the Supreme Court’s decision?” Chief Justice Ramana questioned.
To this, Kapil Sibal said, “We are not saying that the Supreme Court verdict is wrong. “We are only opposing the reduction of the sentence,” he said. Subsequently, the Chief Justice accepted this petition for hearing.
One of the convicts in the Bilgis Banu case had filed a case in the Supreme Court seeking commutation of sentence. The Supreme Court had last May directed the Gujarat government to consider his plea under the 1992 commutation policy, which was in force when he was convicted.
The Supreme Court has already passed an order in the Haryana State-Jagadish case to follow the commutation policy prevailing on the date of judgment in commutation cases. Following this, the Supreme Court issued an order to the Gujarat government last May.