The Supreme Court will
on Thursday hear the arguments on behalf of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case
who were granted remission by the Gujarat government last year.
Their premature release was challenged by Bilkis Bano and
Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra, among others.
At the last hearing on
August 17, the apex court observed that the state governments should not be
selective in granting remission to convicts and the opportunity to reform and
reintegrate with society should be given to every prisoner.
On August 10, in an
earlier hearing, Moitra had told the apex court that the gang-rape of Bilkis
Bano and murder of seven of her family members were a "crime against
humanity". She accused the Gujarat government of having failed to exercise
its constitutional mandate of protecting the rights of women and children by
granting remission to the 11 convicts in the "horrendous" case.
SC had on April 18
questioned the Gujarat government over the remission granted to the 11
convicts, saying the gravity of the offence should have been considered before
showing leniency and wondered if there was any application of mind. All of them
had walked free on August 15, 2022.
Asking for reasons for
the premature release of the convicts, the top court had also questioned
frequent parole granted to them during their incarceration.
"It (remission) is
a kind of grace, which should be proportional to the crime," it had said.
Bilkis 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.