The Supreme Court will deliver the verdict on Monday in the batch of petitions challenging the remission granted to the convicts in the Bilkis Bano case.
The case involves the gangrape of Bano and the murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the horror of the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed in the riots.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had on October 12 last year reserved its verdict after an 11-day hearing on the petitions, including the one filed by Bano.
The convicts Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radhyesham Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt and Ramesh Chandana were released on August 15, 2022, after due completing 15 years in prison, along with considerations of their age and behaviour during incarceration. The Gujarat government had then informed the SC that the Centre had also "conveyed (its) concurrence/ approval".
The move had sparked widespread criticisms and the petitions were filed in November 2022 by several people besides Bano herself. The others include CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, independent journalist Revati Laul and former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University Roop Rekha Verma.
Accepting the petitions, the Supreme Court maintained that the PILs against the premature release of convicts may be maintainable if remission affects the public.
After the hearing, the SC directed the Centre and the Gujarat government to submit by October 16 the original records related to the remission of sentence of the convicts.
While hearing the matter in September last year, the top court had asked whether convicts have a fundamental right to seek remission. During the earlier arguments, the apex court had observed that state governments should not be selective in granting remission to convicts and the opportunity to reform and reintegrate with society should extend to every prisoner.