A lawyer said pleas on behalf of the convicts have been completed.
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court said it will hear arguments on Monday on petitions challenging the premature release of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and the killing of seven of her relatives during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan on Friday asked counsel for the petitioners, including Bilkis Bano, to file their brief written rejoinder arguments.
One of the lawyers appearing in the case said that the pleas on behalf of the convicts have been completed and the matter has been set for hearing of rejoinder by the counsel for the petitioners.
“We do not want the entire case to be reopened at your request,” the bench told the lawyer, adding that it would be better if the counsel for the petitioners filed a brief with their arguments in rejoinder.
“List on October 9 at 2 p.m. In the meantime, counsel for the petitioners may file their brief written arguments…,” the court said.
While hearing the case on September 20, the Supreme Court questioned whether convicts have a fundamental right to seek remission.
“Is the right to request remission a fundamental right? Will a petition fall under Article 32 (which deals with the right of citizens to approach the Supreme Court directly if their fundamental rights are violated) of the Constitution,” the court had asked a lawyer appearing for one of the 11 convicts. The lawyer had acknowledged that asking for remission was indeed not a fundamental right of the convicts.
The victim and others also have no right to approach the Supreme Court directly by filing a petition under Article 32 as no fundamental right of theirs has also been violated, he argued, adding that the victims have other legal have rights to challenge the award of damages. remission.
During the hearing on August 17, the Supreme Court had said that state governments should not be selective in granting remission to convicts and that the opportunity to reform and reintegrate into society should extend to every prisoner.
Besides the petition filed by Bilkis Bano challenging the remission granted to them, 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 exemption challenged. TMC MP Mahua Moitra has also filed a PIL against the remission and their premature release.
Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the horrors of the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident. Her three-year-old daughter was one of seven family members killed in the riots.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
