The Gujarat government has approached the Supreme Court seeking a review of its judgment cancelling the remission granted to the 11 convicts in the gang-rape case of Bilkis Bano, reports Bar and Bench.
It said that the observation by the apex court that the State of Gujarat “acted in tandem and was complicit with Respondent No 3/accused” has caused great prejudice to the State.
“It is humbly submitted that the extreme observation made by this Hon’ble Court that the State of Gujarat “acted in tandem and was complicit with Respondent No3/accused” is not only highly unwarranted and against the record of the case, but has caused serious prejudice to the Petitioner-State of Gujarat,” it said.
The Respondent No 3 is Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah, who was among the 11 men convicted of gang-raping Bilkis Bano and murdering seven of her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots in Gujarat.
The Supreme Court on January 8, 2024, a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan held that the Gujarat government was “complicit and acted in tandem” with the convict who had earlier approached the Supreme Court for a decision on his plea for premature released.
The apex court said that the Court in May 2022 judgment, that declared the State of Gujarat to be competent to decide the plea for remission, was misled through suppression of facts and that the Gujarat government’s remission decision amounted to usurpation of power of the Maharashtra government, as the trial and conviction took place in Maharashtra.
The Gujarat government had sought to delete the “adverse remarks” against the State in the Supreme Court verdict. adding that it acted as per the mandamus issued by the top court’s May 2022 judgment.