Bilkis Bano case: SC defers to May 9 hearing on pleas challenging remission

The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred to May 9 the hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the remission granted to the 11 convicts last year in the case of gangrape of Bilkis Bano and murder of her family members during the 2002 postGodhra riotsA bench of justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna was told by Solicitor General SG Tushar Mehta appearing for the Centre and the Gujarat government that they are not claiming any privilege and are not filing any plea for review of the March 27 order of the court which had asked for production of original records with regard to the remission granted to the convictsThe SG at the outset raised preliminary objections with regard to petitions filed in the matter other than by Bano saying it will have wide ramifications as every now and then third parties will come to the courts in criminal casesThe bench fixed May 9 for hearing the matter as several counsel for convicts who have been released in the case said that they need time to file their replies to the plea by BanoWe are only fixing timelines so that whichever court takes up the matter it will not have to waste time on these procedural issues I am retiring during vacation on June 16 My last working day will be on May 19 My sister Justice Nagarathna will be going to attend a conference in Singapore till May 25 If all of you agree then we can sit during vacation and finish hearing this case Justice Joseph saidThe SG however urged the court that it may list the matter before the summer vacationAdvocate Shobha Gupta said that the matter will take a very short time as only the question of law needs to be decidedJustice Joseph told Gupta It is apparent from the way counsel appearing for convicts that they do not want this hearing to take place Every time the matter will be called up one person or the other will come and say that he needs time to file a reply It is more than obviousHowever the bench said that the new bench will take up the matter for hearing in the second week of JulySenior advocate Siddharth and advocate Rishi Malhotra appearing for the convicts said what was the tearing hurry in hearing the case after counsel for Bano and others requested that the matter be taken up before vacationWe have been released and are out for around one year There should not be any tearing hurry Malhotra saidAlso Read Apex court rejects plea seeking stay on release of The Kerala StoryHe added that he wishes to file some preliminary objections to the writ petition filed by Bano against the remission saying that the Supreme Court rules do not allow the filing of a writ petition after a review against the main judgement has been dismissedOn April 18 the top court questioned the Gujarat government over the remission granted to the 11 convicts last year saying the gravity of the offence should have been considered and asked whether there was any application of mindAsking for reasons for the premature release of the convicts the top court had also questioned the parole granted to them during their incarceration periodIt remission is a kind of grace which should be proportional to crimeThe Centre and the Gujarat government had also told the court they may file a plea seeking a review of its March 27 order asking them to be ready with original files on the grant of remissionOn March 27 terming the Bilkis Banos gang rape and the murder of her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots as a horrendous act the top court had asked the Gujarat government whether uniform standards as followed in other cases of murder were applied while granting remission to the 11 convicts in the caseIt had sought a response from the Centre 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 yearThe top court is seized of PILs filed by CPIM leader Subhashini Ali Revati Laul an independent journalist Roop Rekha Verma who is a former vice chancellor of the Lucknow University and TMC MP Mahua Moitra against the release of the convictsBano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gangraped while fleeing from the riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident Her threeyearold daughter was among the 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