The Supreme Court on Monday (July 17) fixed petitions filed by Bilkis Bano and others against the premature release of 11 men sentenced to life imprisonment for gangraping Bilkis Bano and murdering her family during the 2002 Gujarat riots for hearing on August 7.
A Bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan recorded that service of notice of the case to the various released convicts and other parties have been completed.
This is the second time the case is coming up before a Bench led by Justice Nagarathna. The previous time was on July 11, when it was post for directions on July 17.
The case had come up repeatedly before an earlier Bench led by Justice (retired) K.M. Joseph. However, successive hearings kept getting adjourned due to a maze of procedural objections raised by various lawyers representing the released men.
On the last day of such a hearing, on May 9, Justice Joseph had orally remarked that time was running out for him with his retirement now just days away. His last working day was May 19.
“I think it should be more than clear to you what is happening… So, the problem for me is I am retiring on June 16, but my last working day is May 19 [last working day before court closed for summer vacation till July 2]… It is obvious they do not want us to hear the matter. It is more than obvious,” Justice Joseph had said on May 9.
The oral remark from Justice Joseph was prompted by a clamour of objections raised by the lawyers for the 11 released convicts, who claimed that they were not served notice of the case. Some of them had wanted the case to be adjourned, giving them time to file their counter affidavits to Ms. Bano’s petition challenging the decision of the State of Gujarat, endorsed by the Centre, to remit their life sentences.
The hearing, at one point, had seen the Supreme Court even wonder whether some of the released convicts were making a “mockery” of or even “playing” with the court by either going incognito to hamper the service of notice of the case or seeking time to file counter affidavits.
Justice Nagarathna was the senior Associate Judge on the Bench at the time. The case had come to her Bench following the retirement of Justice Joseph.
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In one of the hearings, advocate Shobha Gupta, for Ms. Bano, had mapped the long trajectory of the case in the apex court.
She said her petition was filed in November 2022.
It came up for hearing before a Bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela Trivedi on December 13. But Justice Trivedi had recused. There was a hiatus of over three months during which Ms. Gupta said she had repeatedly mentioned the case before the Chief Justice of India for a listing.
The case was finally referred to Justices Joseph and Nagarathna and came up for hearing on March 27, 2023. The Bench had issued notice on the same day and directed the government to be ready with the official files concerning the remission. On April 18, both Union and the Gujarat governments said they may seek a review against a March 27 order in which the court had asked them to be “ready with the files”.
The government had even hinted that they would claim privilege over the remission records. Meanwhile, the released convicts had raised similar objections regarding the service of notice and sought adjournment to file their counter affidavits.
On May 2, the government had done a complete U-turn, this time saying it was neither filing a review nor pressing for privilege.
On May 9, the Bench led by Justice Joseph had even offered to hear the case during the summer vacation.
But Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for both the Union and the State of Gujarat, had refused the suggestion. He had explained that the government could not make an “exception” in any cases.
