From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday summoned the entire record of proceedings in the Bilkis Bano case from the Gujarat government within two weeks, including the remission process to release 11 convicted to the life sentence on August 15 in the case of the gang-rape of Bilkis and murder of her family members during the 2002 riots.
A Bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and B V Nagarathna also issued a notice to the Gujarat government and the released convicts on a plea filed by Trinamul Congress MP Mahua Moitra to set aside the remission and order an immediate arrest.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had issued in the same matter on the plea by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, journalist Revati Laul and social activist Prof. Roop Rekha Verma. It asked them to impede the convicts in the petition.
The plea filed by the three women said they are challenging the competent authority’s order setting aside the life imprisonment of 11 persons committing the heinous offences in Gujarat. It said their conviction was investigated and so the remission solely by the Gujarat government without any consultation with the Centre is impermissible in terms of the mandate of Section 435 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
It said the remission would be entirely against public interest, shocking the collective public conscience, as also be entirely against the interests of the victm, whose family has publicly made statements worrying for her safety.
In March 2002 during the post-Godhra riots, Bilkis Bana, who was five-month pregnant, was gang-raped and left to die with 14 members of her family, including her 3-year old daughter, in Vadodara
