Supreme Court judge recuses from hearing Bilkis Bano plea on convicts' release

New Delhi, December 13

The Supreme Court on Tuesday could not take up Bilkis Bano’s petition against the premature release of 11 men convicted of raping her and killing her family members as Justice Bela M Trivedi recused from hearing the matter.

As the matter came up before a Bench of Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice Bela M Trivedi, the former said his sister judge would not like to hear the case.

“List the matter before a Bench in which one of us (Justice Trivedi) is not a member,” Justice Rastogi said.

Now, CJI DY Chandrachud will have to reconstitute the Bench before Bano’s petition is taken up.

Bilkis Bano, pregnant at the time of the crime, was gang-raped and her three-year-old daughter, Saleha, and 13 others were killed by a mob on March 3, 2002, in Dahod during violence that broke out in Gujarat after the Sabarmati Express was attacked in Godhra and 59 “kar sevaks” were burnt to death. The Supreme Court had handed over the probe to the CBI and the trial was shifted to Mumbai where a sessions court in 2008 convicted 11 accused of gang rape and murder and awarded life imprisonment to them. Later, the conviction was upheld by the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court.

On August 25, the top court issued a notice to the Gujarat Government on a petition filed by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, journalist and filmmaker Revati Laul and Prof Roop Rekha Verma challenging the premature release of the 11 convicts on August 15 that sparked widespread outrage. On September 9, a fresh petition was filed by TMC MP Mahua Moitra against the remission. The petition by the victim herself came after the convicts questioned the locus standi of the other petitioners.