Bilkis Bano case: SC defers till July 11 hearing on pleas against remission

The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred till July 11 the hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the remission granted last year to all the 11 convicts in the case of gang rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of her family members during the 2002 postGodhra riotsA bench of justices KM Joseph BV Nagarathna and Ahsanuddin Amanullah directed the issuance of notices to the convicts who remained unserved even nowThe bench also directed the publication of notices in local newspapers including in Gujarati and English against the convicts who could not be served notices including one whose house was found by the local police to be locked and his phone was switched offIt directed that the next date of hearing of the matter July 11 shall also be published in the notices to be carried in the newspapersWe are adopting this process so that time is not wasted on the next date of hearing of the matter and the matter could proceed the bench saidOn July 11 a new bench is likely to hear the matter as Justice Joseph who is heading the bench is set to superannuate on June 16 with May 19 being his last working dayThe Supreme Court will go on summer vacation from May 20 till July 2On May 2 the top court deferred the hearing after some of the counsel for the convicts raised objections about not being served notices on the pleasThe top court had then observed It is obvious rather more than obvious that you all convicts do not want the hearing to be conducted by this benchThe Centre and the Gujarat government had told the court that they are not claiming any privilege and not filing any plea for a review of the courts March 27 order asking for the production of the original records with regard to the remission granted to the convictsThe Gujarat government had raised preliminary objections with regard to the petitions filed in the matter other than the one by Bano saying it will have wide ramifications as every now and then third parties will approach courts in criminal casesAlso Read Punjab Police launches operation vigil against antisocial elementsOn April 18 the top court questioned the Gujarat government over the remission granted to the 11 convicts saying the gravity of the offence should have been considered and wondered if there was any application of mindAsking for the reasons for the premature release of the convicts the top court had also questioned the parole granted to them during their incarceration periodItremission is a kind of grace which should be proportional to the crime it had saidThe Centre and the Gujarat government had then told the court that they might file a plea seeking a review of its March 27 order asking them to be ready with the original files on the grant of remissionOn March 27 terming Bilkis Banos gang rape and the murder of her family members during the 2002 postGodhra riots a horrendous act the apex court had asked the Gujarat government whether uniform standards as followed in other murder cases were applied while granting remission to the 11 convictsIt had sought the responses of the Centre the Gujarat government and others on the plea filed by Bano who has challenged the remission of the sentencesAll 11 convicts were granted remission by the Gujarat government and released on August 15 last yearPILs were filed by CPIM leader Subhashini Ali independent journalist Revati Laul former vicechancellor of the Lucknow University Roop Rekha Verma and Trinamool Congress TMC MP Mahua Moitra against the release of the convictsBano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang raped while fleeing from the riots that broke out after the Godhra trainburning incident Her threeyearold daughter was among seven family members killed in the riotsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever