The Supreme Court of India on Thursday reserved its judgement on pleas challenging the remission of the sentence of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case and the murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat genocide.
The court directed the Union and the Gujarat government to submit the original records related to the remission by October 16.
In an 11-day-long hearing that began in August, a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan heard submissions by Bilkis Bano’s counsel and lawyers for the Centre, the Gujarat government and the PIL petitioners.
Advocate Shobha Gupta appeared for Bilkis, the rape survivor. At the same time, Senior Advocates Indira Jaising, and advocates Vrinda Grover, Aparna Bhat, Nizamuddin Pasha, and Pratik R Bombarde represented various public interest litigants.
Additional Solicitor-General SV Raju appeared for the State of Gujarat and the Union of India. The now-released convicts were represented by Senior advocates Sidharth Luthra, Rishi Malhotra, S Guru Krishnakumar, Advocate Sonia Mathur, and others.
The state government released the convicts last year, provoking widespread outrage and protest.
