SC To Hear Bilkis Bano’s Plea Challenging Premature Release Of Rape Convicts On Dec 13

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear a writ petition filed by Bilkis Bano contesting the early release given to 11 individuals found guilty of rape and murder on December 13.

The case will be heard by a division bench comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela Trivedi.

The petition was brought up in front of a bench presided over by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud by attorney Shobha Gupta, speaking on behalf of Bilkis on November 30.

On August 15, the Gujarat government released the 11 convicts who had been given life sentences. According to Gujarat’s remission policy in effect at the time of the case’s conviction in 2008, all 11 life-term convicts were released.

Bano was allegedly gang-raped in March 2002 during the post-Godhra riots and left to die alongside 14 other family members, including her three-year-old daughter. When Vadodara rioters attacked her family, she was five months pregnant.