બિલ્કીસ કેસના ગુનેગારોને પાછા જેલમાં જવું પડશે, સુપ્રીમ કોર્ટે કહ્યું- ‘ગુજરાત સરકારનો નિર્ણય ખોટો હતો’

Bilkis Bano Case: 11 convicts of Bilkis Bano case will go back to jail. The Supreme Court has quashed the Gujarat government’s order for his release. The gang-rape and murder convict was released in August 2022 after spending nearly 15 years in prison. The Supreme Court said that since the trial was conducted in Maharashtra, the Gujarat government could not take a decision on the release of the convicts.

• During the 2002 Gujarat riots, Bilkis of Randhikpur village in Dahod district ran away with 16 members of her family and hid in the fields of Chhaparwad, a nearby village. On 3 March 2002, more than 20 rioters attacked there. Several other women, including Bilkis, who was 5 months pregnant, were raped. 7 people were killed, including Bilkis’ 3-year-old daughter.

• In 2008, he was sentenced to life imprisonment
• The Supreme Court transferred the case to Maharashtra after receiving a complaint of pressure on the victim from the accused. On 21 January 2008, a special CBI court in Mumbai sentenced 11 people to life imprisonment. In 2017, the Bombay High Court and later the Supreme Court also upheld the sentence.

The order of release by the court was misguided

• On May 13, 2022, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath delivered its judgment on a plea by a convict, Radheshyam Shah, saying that he was convicted in 2008, therefore, the 1992 rules for acquittal would apply. Because those rules were in force at that time. were effective. The 1992 rules stated that prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment would be considered for release after 14 years.

• On August 15, 2022, the Gujarat government released 11 people who had served 14 years in prison on this basis, but in a new decision a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjwal Bhuya said the accused had not told the court that the decision to release them could have been taken by the Maharashtra government. He obtained an order from the Supreme Court by stating false facts, so that order will have no effect.

• The victim, Bilkis Bano, challenged the Gujarat government’s order to release the criminals in court. Apart from this, many leaders and social workers including Subhashini Ali, Mavi Verma, Revathi Lal, Mahua Moitra approached the Supreme Court against this exemption. These petitions said that it was not humane to release the perpetrators of such heinous crimes. It has also been said that the side of the victim Bilkis should have been asked while deciding the release, but the government did not do so.

Have to surrender in 2 weeks

• The Supreme Court said that even though these convicts have been out for almost a year and a half, this cannot be given importance while taking the decision to send them back to jail. The country runs on the rule of law. The order of the Government of Gujarat on the basis of which this exemption was granted was legally incorrect, so the criminals could not benefit from it. The court has asked all the convicts to surrender and go back to jail within 2 weeks.