Bilkis Bano case: Gujarat govt cites ‘good behaviour’, Centre’s approval for freeing convicts

The Gujarat Government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court of India defending their decision to grant remission to the eleven convicts in the Bilkis Bano case. The Gujarat government said that they had granted remission tot he convicts as they completed 14 years sentence in prison and their "behaviour was found to be good", news agency ANI reported. 

In the affidavit the Gujarat government said the Union Home Ministry had approved the premature release through a letter dated 11 July this year. 

The Gujarat government had granted remission on 15 August to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case of gangrape. This was done under the state government's 1992 remission and premature release policy for life-term convicts. 

This outdated policy and its implementation in releasing the convicts invited tremendous backlash. Bilkis Bano also notified that she was never informed or consulted regarding the release of the convicts. 

Since their release, the Supreme Court has issued notices on two petitions — one filed by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, journalist Revati Laul and academician Roop Rekha Verma, and another by TMC MP Mahua Moitra — challenging their release.

Bilkis was gangraped and her three-year-old daughter Saleha was among 14 killed by a mob on March 3, 2002, in Limkheda taluka of Dahod district, during the post-Godhra riots. Bilkis was pregnant at the time. The Gujarat government cited a “unanimous” recommendation of the Jail Advisory Committee (JAC) to grant remission to the convicts on grounds of “good behaviour”.

The convicts were sentenced to life term in jail by a special court in Mumbai for the gangrape and the murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano's family. The sentence was later upheld by the Bombay High Court.

However, the the Gujarat government's 1992 remission policy did not have restriction against the premature release of those convicted for rape or sentenced to life imprisonment.