Bilkis case convicts’ plea seeking more time to surrender rejected

The Supreme Court on Friday rejectedseparate petitions filed by the convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case seeking more time to surrender, saying that the reasons cited by the 11 men for the relief “have no merit”.

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On Thursday, the 10 convicts filed applications in the top court seeking an extension to the January 21 surrender deadline over reasons ranging from family responsibilities and health conditions to harvesting of winter crops and marriage in the family. The 11th convict filed a similar plea on Friday morning. The court, however, rejected their appeal, saying “we gave you enough time to arrange your affairs”.

“The reasons cited by the applicants for postponement of surrender have no merit, as these reasons do not prevent them from complying with our direction of January 8,” a bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said.

Advocate Rajan Kumar Chaurasia who appeared for one of the convicts, Bokabhai Khimabhai Vohania said, “This court has in the past granted time of up to two months for convicts to surrender on dismissal of their appeals. In this case, we asked for at least four weeks giving reasons of personal inconvenience. The court should have considered our request compassionately.”

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The men were given life imprisonment for the rape and murder of 14 people, including seven members of Bano’s family, in 2002, but they walked out of jail in August 2022, after serving 14 years of sentence, as the Gujarat government granted them remission. Bano moved the apex court in November 2022, challenging their early release.

On January 8, a bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan of the top court scrapped the remission granted to the convicts in the case and directed them to surrender in two weeks. The bench said Gujarat usurped the power of Maharashtra, where the original trial of the convicts happened, to grant remission, and nullified a 2022 judgment by another bench of the top court, which had directed Gujarat to consider the remission applications of the 11 convicts, saying this was obtained by “playing fraud” on court.

While one of the convicts, Govindbhai Nai, sought an additional time of four weeks to surrender, the remaining nine Ramesh Rupabhai Chandana, Mitesh Bhatt, Pradip Ramanlal Modhiya, Bipinchand Kaniyalal Joshi, Radheyshyam Bhagwandas Shah, Rajubhai Babulal Soni, Jaswantbhai Chaturbhai Nai, Kesharbhai Khimabhai Vohania and Shaileshbhai Chimanlal Bhatt – sought six more weeks.

The convict who filed the petition on Friday, Bokabhai Khimabhai Vohania, also sought four weeks.

“As the winter crops produced by the applicant are ready for harvesting and other processes, the applicant needs five to six weeks for such harvesting and other processes. to be completed,” Mitesh Bhatt said in his application filed on Wednesday night.

Another applicant, Chandana (58), said he has undergone angiography and is on medication for a heart ailment. “In this condition, to surrender within time directed by this court will be adverse not only to his mental health but will affect him physically severely,” he said. Relief on similar grounds was also sought by Joshi, who said he has undergone a leg surgery, and Modhiya, who said he underwent a lung surgery.

Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped during the Gujarat riots. In December 2003, the top court transferred the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the next year, shifted the trial to Mumbai. The convicts were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Mumbai court in 2008 and the Bombay high court upheld their conviction and sentence in 2017.