SC Justice Bela Trivedi Recuses herself from hearing: Justice Bela M Trivedi of the Supreme Court on Tuesday recused herself from hearing a petition filed by Bilkis Bano, the rape survivor in the 2002 Gujarat riots, against the remission granted by the state government to the 11 convicts, news agency PTI reported.
When the apex court bench comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi took up the matter for hearing, Justice Rastogi said that his sister judge would not like to hear the case. “List the matter before a bench in which one of us is not a member,” the bench headed by Justice Rastogi ordered, as quoted by PTI. However, the bench did not give a reason for Justice Trivedi’s recusal.
Justice Trivedi was deputed as the Law Secretary of the Gujarat government during 2004-2006, reported Live Law.
Bano, who was gangraped and members of her family murdered during the 2002 riots, had challenged the remission of the 11 convicts granted by Gujarat government. In her plea, Bano said that the state government had passed a mechanical order completely ignoring the requirement of law as laid down by the top court.
The 11 convicted men had walked out of the Godhra sub-jail on August 15, after completing more than 15 years in prison.
Bano was 21 and five months pregnant when she was gangraped while fleeing the riots that broke out in 2002 in Gujarat. Among the seven members of her family, her three-year-old daughter was also killed.
In 2008, a special CBI court had sentenced the 11 men to life imprisonment, and their conviction was later upheld by the Bombay High Court as well as the Supreme Court of India.