The Supreme Court of India heard Bilkis Bano’s plea on March 27, challenging the premature release of the 11 convicts, sentenced to life for multiple murders and gang rapes during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The matter was heard by the two-judge bench of the Supreme Court including Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice KM Joseph. The question highlighted by the top Court during the hearing was whether the release of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case was as per the remission standards in other similar cases. The bench questioned, “We have before us many murder cases where convicts are languishing in jails without remission for years. Is this a case where standards have been applied uniformly as in other cases too?” Along with this, the Supreme Court also ordered the Centre and Gujarat government to present all the relevant documents before the next hearing of the case, that is, April 18, 2023. The bench observed that the crimes committed against Bilkis Bano were “horrendous” and also declared that the court will only hear legal questions rather than emotional pleas.
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