Today, the Supreme Court will hear the convicts' requests for an extension of time to surrender in the Bilkis Bano case.
The Supreme Court received applications from seven of the eleven convicts on Thursday, asking for a six-to four-week extension on the deadline for their surrender to the jail authorities. In the Bilkis Bano case, the Supreme Court will hear convicts' requests for an extension of time to surrender today.
The top court had on January 8 annulled the remission the Gujarat government granted to the 11 convicts in the high-profile case while slamming the State for being "complicit" with an accused and abusing its discretion. It ordered the convicts, who were released prematurely on Independence Day in 2022, to go back to jail within two weeks. The reasons for seeking extension of the deadline to surrender include failing health, impending surgery, son's marriage and harvesting ripe crops.
The matter was mentioned before a bench of Justices B V Nagarathana and Sanjay Karol which asked the registry to place their applications before Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud.
"It is stated by the respondents that applications have been filed for an extension of time to surrender and report to jail. Since the bench has to be reconstituted, registry to seek orders from CJI for reconstitution of the bench since time expires on Sunday," the bench said.
The 11 convicts released prematurely were: Bakabhai Vohania, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Govind Nai, Jaswant Nai, Mitesh Bhatt, Pradeep Mordhiya, Radheshyam Shah, Rajubhai Soni, Ramesh Chandana and Shailesh Bhatt.
Excoriating the Gujarat government for remitting their sentences, the apex court had said it "usurped" the power of the Maharashtra government to grant remission. The Bilkis Bano case was transferred from a Gujarat court to a court in Mumbai, and the Supreme Court said the Maharashtra government was vested with the power to grant remission. Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while trying to escape 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.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Bilkis Bano case")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}