New Delhi, Jan 8: This is what justice feels like, Bilkis Bano said after the Supreme Court on Monday quashed the remission granted to 11 men convicted of raping her and murdering seven members of her family during the 2002 riots in Gujarat.
Quashing the Gujarat government’s decision to grant remission, the apex court said the state government’s order was “stereotyped” and passed without application of mind. In a statement through her lawyer, Bano thanked the top court for the verdict and said “today is truly the New Year for me”. (PTI)
Bilkis Bano case: SC quashes Guj govt’s remission order,
11 crooks to return to jail
New Delhi, Jan 8: In a massive setback to the Gujarat government, the Supreme Court on Monday quashed the remission it had granted to 11 convicts in the high-profile gang-rape case of Bilkis Bano and the killing of her seven family members, while slamming the state for being “complicit” with an accused and abusing its discretion. It ordered all the convicts, who were released prematurely on Independence Day in 2022, back to jail within two weeks.
Excoriating the Gujarat government, the apex court said it “usurped” the power of the Maharashtra government to grant remission to the convicts. It held as nullity the May 13, 2022 judgement of another bench of the apex court, which had directed the Gujarat government to consider the remission applications of the 11 convicts in the case, saying it was obtained by “playing fraud on court”.
“This is a classic case where the order of this court dated May 13, 2022, has been used for violating the rule of law while passing orders of remission in favour of respondent nos 3 to 13 (convicts) in the absence of any jurisdiction by the State of Gujarat. Therefore, without going into the manner in which the power of remission has been exercised, we strike down the orders of remission on the ground of usurpation of powers by the State of Gujarat not vested in it. The orders of remission are hence quashed,” a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said.
It asked whether “heinous crimes against women permit remission” irrespective of the faith she may follow or creed she may belong to.
Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was raped while fleeing the horror of the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident in February 2002. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed.
In its 251-page judgment, the Supreme Court said the Gujarat government had no jurisdiction to entertain the applications for remission of sentences and only the government of the state where the offenders were sentenced was competent to consider an application for remission and pass an order. “Government of State of Gujarat (respondent No.1 herein) had no jurisdiction to entertain the applications for remission or pass the orders of remission on August 10, 2022 in favour of respondent No.3 to 13 (convicts) herein as it was not the appropriate government within the meaning of sub-section (7) of Section 432 of the CrPC,” the bench said.
Bilkis Bano, now in her 40s, reacted with a sense of satisfaction over the judgement. “Today is truly the New Year for me. I have wept tears of relief. I have smiled for the first time in over a year and half. I have hugged my children. It feels like a stone the size of a mountain has been lifted from my chest, and I can breathe again,” she said in a statement issued through her lawyer Shobha Gupta.
“This is what justice feels like. I thank the honourable Supreme Court of India for giving me, my children and women everywhere, this vindication and hope in the promise of equal justice for all,” she said.
The Supreme Court said just as an order passed by a court without jurisdiction is a nullity, in the same vein, an order passed or action taken by an authority lacking in jurisdiction is a nullity and is non est (does not exist) in the eye of law. (PTI)
“On that short ground alone the orders of remission have to be quashed. This aspect of competency of the Government of State of Gujarat to pass the impugned orders of remission goes to the root of the matter and the impugned orders of remission are lacking in competency and hence a nullity. The writ petition filed by the victim would have to succeed on this reasoning,” the bench said. (PTI)