'Convicts played fraud on court; sympathy has no role to play': What SC said in Bilkis Bano case

The Supreme Court on Monday set aside the Gujarat government’s decision to pre-maturely release the 11 convicts facing life sentences for the gangrape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 riots in the state. The court ordered the convicts to go back to jail and surrender before authorities within two weeks.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said the Gujarat government was not competent to pass the remission order, noting that the government of the state where the offender is sentenced is the appropriate government to grant remission.

The court held that the May 2022 order, in which it had directed the remission of one of the convicts to be considered according to the 1992 remission policy of the Gujarat government, was an order in nullity.

The writ petition, seeking direction to the government to consider remission, was filed by suppressing the material facts and making misleading statements, the apex court observed.

The men were convicted of gang-raping Bilkis Bano, who was pregnant at the time, and killing seven of her family members during riots in Gujarat in 2002.

Here are some key observations by the Supreme Court in Bilkis Bano case:

Gujarat government “usurped” the power of the Maharashtra government by not filing the review petition against the May 2022 judgment and impressing on the court that the Maharashtra government was the appropriate government, the court said.

Usurputation of power arises when power vested in one authority is exercised by another. Applying the principle in this case, having regard to our answer of "appropriate power", Gujarat government exercising the power was an instance of usurpation of power.

The court also pulled up the Gujarat government for passing remission orders in August 2022 in a cyclostyled manner, with no application of mind.

We fail to understand why the state of Gujarat did not file a review petition against the judgment dated May 13, 2022. Had the government filed a review and impressed upon this court, the ensuing litigation would not have occurred.

Gujarat government was complicit with the accused and it was the very apprehension with led the court to transfer the Bilkis Bano trial from Gujarat to Maharashtra, the court observed.

If the convicts can circumvent the consequences of their conviction, peace and tranquillity in the society will be reduced to a chimaera.

“Compassion and sympathy has no role to play where rule of law is to be enforced. This court must be beacon in preserving rule of law,” the bench said as it ordered the 11 convicts to surrender back to the concerned jail authorities in Gujarat within two weeks.

We strike down the remission orders on the ground of usurpation of power by Gujarat government