Bilkis Bano: Justice Trivedi recuses from hearing plea against premature release of convicts, case postponed

Supreme Court judge Justice Bela Trivedi on Tuesday recused from hearing the writ petition filed by Gujarat riots gangrape survivor Bilkis Bano. She was challenging the premature release of the 11 life convicts who had gangraped and murdered her family during the 2002 riots. The court has not given the next date of hearing yet.

The writ petition was listed before a bench comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi. When the matter was set to be heard, Justice Rastogi informed the petitioner’s lawyer Shobha Gupta about Justice Trivedi’s recusal. Trivedi was the law secretary of the Gujarat Government between 2004 and 2006.

Justice Rastogi asked for the matter to be listed on a bench on which one of them is not a part of, while Gupta requested for an urgent listing of the matter before the Court closes for winter vacations. The Supreme Court is closed from December 19 to December 31, 2022. 

Earlier this year on 13 May 2022, the Supreme Court bench led by Justice Rastogi had ruled that the Gujarat government could decide on the remission request as the offence took place in Gujarat. The court had also stated that the remission should be considered as per the policy existing at the time of conviction in the state. The court directed the state to consider the plea within two months in terms of its 1992 remission policy.

The apex court was hearing a petition filed by one of the convicts, Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah, who wanted the court to direct the state to consider his premature release under the policy dated 9 July 1992, which was existing at the time of his conviction. He stated that he had served 15 years and 4 months in jail. He and 10 others were serving rigorous imprisonment for life after being found guilty of the crime.

The 11 convicts who were set free as a result are Radhyesham Shah, Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt and Ramesh Chandana.

The Gujarat High Court had dismissed his petition on the ground that since the trial was concluded in Maharashtra, the the application for premature release has to be filed in the Maharashtra and not in Gujarat. However, the Supreme Court held that since the crime was committed in Gujarat, the same state could consider the remission too. As a result, on 15 August 2022, the Gujarat government granted remission to the 11 convicts who had murdered Bano’s family.

Soon after, several PILs by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, journalist Revati Laul, TMC MP Mahua Moitra, former IPS office Meeran Chadha Borwankar and few other former civil servants and National Federation of Indian Women were filed in the Supreme Court questioning the release. Bilkis Bano has also now approached the Supreme Court in the same case.

The Gujarat government informed the apex court that the convicts were released after taking the approval of the Central Government, considering the ‘good’ behaviour of the convicts and the completion of their 14 years sentence. The affidavit also revealed that the CBI and the presiding judge of the Special CBI Court in Mumbai had objected to the release of the convicts because the offence was heinous.