The Supreme Court today held that the petition filed by 2002 Gujarat riots victim Bilkis Bano against the premature release of 11 persons convicted of her gang-rape and murder of her family members is maintainable.  

The courtsaid that the convicts in Bilkis Bano case must report back to concerned jail authorities within a period of two weeks.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said that the plea of protection of liberty of convicts cannot be accepted and the “natural consequences” of setting aside remission orders must follow.

“We think that a person is entitled to protection of his liberty only in accordance with law. When a person's liberty cannot be violated in breach of law, can a person's liberty be protected in the face of a breach or violation of law?

"In upholding rule of law, are we depriving respondents (convicts) the right to freedom and liberty? We wish to make it clear that only when rule of law prevails, liberty and other fundamental rights would prevail in our constitution," the bench said.

Pronouncing the verdict, the bench said, “On the point of maintenance of the petition filed by the petitioner (Bilkis Bano) under Article 32 of the Constitution, we have held -- it is clearly maintainable.”

It said that it is not necessary for the apex court to decide the question of maintainability of the public interest litigations (PILs) filed against the Gujarat government's decision to prematurely release 11 convicts under the state's remission policy on Aug 15, 2022.

“We do not think it necessary to answer the point regarding maintainability of PILs in this case…..Therefore, the question regarding maintainability of PIL challenging orders of remission is kept open to be considered in any other appropriate case,” the top court held.

During the hearing, the Centre, Gujarat government, and convicts had opposed the PILs filed by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra, the National Federation of Indian Women, Asma Shafique Shaikh and others against the remission orders, saying that once victim herself has approached the court, others may not be allowed to intervene in a criminal matter.

The 11 men convicted in the case were released on Aug 15 last year, after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy. The convicts had completed 15 years in jail.

More details are awaited as the top court is pronouncing its verdict in the case.

(Source: IANS)

-Edited for style

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