NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to constitute a special bench to hear a plea by Bilkis Bano against the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the case who allegedly gang-raped her during the 2002 Gujarat riots,
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala assured Ms Bano, through her lawyer Shobha Gupta, that the new bench will be formed to hear her plea.
Bano's counsel Ms Gupta had mentioned the matter for urgent hearing and said that a new bench needs to be constituted to hear the plea.
In response, CJI Chandrachud is reported to have said, "I will have a bench constituted. Will look at it this evening."
It should be mentioned here that the hearing on Ms Bano's plea challenging the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the gang-rape case by the Gujarat government could not be held in the Supreme Court earlier on January 24. On that day, the judges concerned were hearing a matter related to passive euthanasia as part of a five-judge Constitution bench. The sentences of all 11 convicts in the case were remitted by the Gujarat government and they were released on August 15 last year.
Along with the plea challenging the release of the convicts, the gang-rape survivor had also filed a separate petition seeking a review of the Supreme Court's May 13, 2022 order on a plea by a convict. In its May 13, 2022 order, the top court had asked the state government to consider the plea of a convict for premature release in terms of its policy of July 9, 1992 which was applicable on the date of conviction and decide it within a period of two months.
However, all 11 convicts were released and their sentences were given remission by the Gujarat government.
Not only was Bano gang-raped during the 2002 Gujarat riots, seven members of Bilkis Bano's family were also killed during the violence.
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