The apex court refused the interim bail apps filed by Radheyshyam Bhagwandas and Rajubhai Babulal, the two convicted of raping Bilkis Bano and killing her entire family during the 2002 Gujarat carnage.
The convicts had applied for temporary parole until the apex court decided on their new remission application that objected to the Gujarat government’s decision to release them on the Independence Day of 2022, which the court dismissed in January 2023.
The convicts stated that this claim was an “anomalous” situation because two different benches of the Supreme Court had reached conflicting conclusions about the state’s early release policy. However, the court dismissed the plea, saying it could be termed absolutely misconceived and that one could approach it in appeal against a public interest litigation.
It needs to be remembered that in its judgment delivered in January, Blas was very harsh on the court’s May 2022 judgement, for which the convicts were released under a discredited 1992 remission policy. The court observed that the Gujarat government should have moved a petition to reconsider the order passed on May.
Among the eight family members who were killed, Bilkis Bano, a 21-year-old woman who was five months pregnant, was gang raped. The convicts’ appeal dismissal by the Supreme Court is a win for Bilkis Bano and affirms the principles of legal excellence.
