Remission granted in Bilkis Bano Case challenged in Supreme Court

New Delhi: The remission granted by the Gujarat government to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case was challenged before the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

A bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana agreed to look into the matter after advocate Aparna Bhat mentioned the matter seeking an urgent listing on Wednesday.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal also mentioned the matter and said, "The Supreme Court gave a discretion to the government to consider it. We are challenging the remission, not the order of Supreme Court".

The plea before the apex court was filed by member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Subhashini Ali, journalist Revati Laul, and social activist and professor Roop Rekha Verma.

Earlier on August 19, Telangana MLC K Kavitha wrote a letter to Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana urging the Supreme Court to intervene in the matter of the release of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano rape case under the remission policy of the Gujarat government.

The Gujarat government released the 11 convicts, who were sentenced to life imprisonment, on August 15.

Meanwhile, all the 11 life-term convicts in the case were released as per the remission policy prevalent in Gujarat at the time of their conviction in 2008.

In March 2002 during the post-Godhra riots, Bano was allegedly gang-raped and left to die with 14 members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter. She was five months pregnant when rioters attacked her family in Vadodara.