Bilkis Bano rapists to surrender, Supreme Court says Gujarat ‘not competent to…’

In a blow to the Gujarat government, the Supreme Court on Monday cancelled an order passed by the state to release 11 men convicted of raping Bilkis Bano and killing seven of her family members during the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.

The court ruled that the Gujarat government was “not competent enough” to pass such an order and termed the move a “fraud act”. A bench of Justices BV Nagarthana and Ujjal Bhuyan pronounced the verdict and ordered the convicts to surrender in two weeks and return to jail. The bench said a petition filed by Bilkis Bano challenging the early release of 11 convicts was valid.

The Supreme Court also held as ‘nullity’ its May 13, 2022 order of another bench asking the Gujarat government to consider the plea of the convicts seeking their early release as it was obtained by “playing fraud on the court” and by suppressing material facts.

It said this was a classic case where the order of this court was used to violate the rule of law by granting remission.

The Supreme Court said the rule of law has been breached by usurpation of power and May 13, 2022 order has been used to usurp the powers and abuse the process of law. “We strike down the remission orders on the ground of usurpation of power by Gujarat government,” the bench said.

“By suppressing material facts and making misleading facts, a direction was sought by a convict to the state of Gujarat to consider remission. There was no direction from this court to the Gujarat government to consider remission. This is a fraud act,” the bench said.

The bench said the Gujarat government was not empowered to pass the order on the early release of the convicts since the appropriate government entitled to pass such orders was Maharashtra, where the trial took place, and not Gujarat.

“The government of the state (Maharashtra) where the offender was sentenced is the appropriate government to grant remission and not the government of the state (Gujarat) where the offence took place,” it ruled.

The Supreme Court had reserved its judgment on October 12 last year after lengthy hearings for 11 days. During the proceedings, the Centre and the Gujarat government submitted original records related to the early release of the convicts’ sentences.

The 11 prematurely released convicts are — Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radhyesham Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt and Ramesh Chandana.

They were released on August 15, 2022, after completing 15 years in prison, along with considerations of their age and behaviour during incarceration.

Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident in Gujarat on March 3, 2002. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed.