All eleven convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case surrendered before the Godhra sub-jail authorities late Sunday night in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district in the Bilkis Bano case, in line with the stipulated two-week deadline set by the Supreme Court on January 8.
The 11 convicts — Radheshyam Shah, Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Kesar Vohania, Baka Vohania, Raju Soni, Ramesh Chandana, Shailesh Bhatt, Bipin Joshi, Pradip Modhiya, and Mitesh Bhatt — arrived from Singwad in Dahod district at the Godhra sub-jail in Panchmahal district shortly before midnight, in two separate vehicles.
“All 11 convicts have surrendered before jail authorities late Sunday night. They reached jail before midnight on January 21, which was the deadline set for them to surrender,” said local Crime Branch inspector NL Desai, PTI reported.
Earlier on Friday, the two-division bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan rejected the plea with the observation that the reasons cited had no merit.
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On January 8, the Supreme Court nullified the remission granted by the Gujarat government to the 11 convicts in this high-profile case. The court condemned the state for being “complicit” with an accused and abusing its discretion. The Supreme Court instructed the convicts, who were released prematurely on Independence Day in 2022, to return to jail within two weeks.
The court ruled that the Gujarat government lacked jurisdiction to grant premature release as the trial occurred in Maharashtra.
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Following the Supreme Court order, the convicts had sought more time to surrender on various grounds such as failing health, impending surgery, son’s marriage, and harvesting ripe crops, which was dismissed on Friday.
Bilkis Bano, aged 21 and five months pregnant at the time, was gang-raped while attempting to escape the horrors of communal riots that erupted after the Godhra train burning incident in February 2002. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed.
