The Gujarat High Court has refused to entertain the petition filed by two convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case, seeking parole on grounds of Nav Chandi Pooja and Vastu Shanti Pooja.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Divyesh Joshi on Thursday expressed his disinclination to grant parole to convicts Shailesh Bhatt and Mitesh Bhatt.
Appearing for the brothers, Advocate Khushbu Vyas sought parole on the grounds that they had spent a considerable time in jail.
Justice Joshi said no. The Counsel then sought parole for at least one of the two brothers.
However, the High Court refused to entertain the application, after which the convicts withdrew their petition.
Earlier in February 2024, the High Court had granted parole to Ramesh Chandana and Pradipbhai Ramamlal Modiya, two of the 11 persons convicted for raping Bilkis Bano and murdering her family members during the Gujarat riots of 2002.
On August 14, 2023, convicts Radheshyam Shah, Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Kesar Vohania, Baka Vohania, Raju Soni, Ramesh Chandana, Shailesh Bhatt, Bipin Joshi, Pradip Modhiya, and Mitesh Bhatt were released from prison after they were granted remission (early release from prison) by the Gujarat government
The decision of the state government followed a May 2022 judgment of the Supreme Court, which held that an application of remission should be considered in line with the policy of the State where the crime was committed (Gujarat, in this case) and not where the trial was held (the trial in the case was held in Maharashtra).
Pursuant to that judgment, the Gujarat government applied its remission policy to release the convicts.
The Gujarat government’s decision was challenged by various petitioners, including Bano, before the Apex Court.
On January 8, the Bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan quashed the remission granted to the convicts by the Gujarat government. It concluded that the Gujarat government had no power to apply its remission policy to these 11 convicts.
In the May 2022 judgment, the Bench headed by Justice Nagarathna also found that the convict who had approached the Apex Court for remission had suppressed material facts.
Due to the suppression of the facts, the Bench headed by Justice Nagarathna held the earlier ruling of May 2022 was non est and invalid in law, while directing all 11 convicts to surrender within two weeks.