Bilkis Bano Gang Rape Case: SC Asks Centre, Gujarat Govt to Submit Original Records of Remission of Sentences of Convicts

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre and the Gujarat Government to furnish the original records related to the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots, by October 16.

A two-member bench of the apex court reserved its order on the pleas challenging the remission granted to the convicts.

Besides the petition filed by Bilkis Bano contesting the remission granted to them by the Gujarat government, several other PILs, including one by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, independent journalist Revati Laul and former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University Roop Rekha Verma, have challenged the relief to the convicts of the case. TMC MP Mahua Moitra has also filed a PIL against the premature release of the convicts.

During the 2002 Gujarat riots, 21-year-old Bilkis Bano, who was five months pregnant, was gang-raped. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed in the riots.