The Gujarat High Court has granted 10-day parole to one of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano, who had recently surrendered before Godhra jail, to attend husband nephew’s wedding.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Divyesh Joshi granted parole to Ramesh Chandana on Friday on bail bond of Rs 5000 to the satisfaction of the jail authority on usual terms and conditions.
The High Court passed the order on the grounds that the applicant had sought the temporary release for attending the marriage of his sister’s son.
The applicant was represented by Advocate Khushbu P Vyas, while the State was represented by Additional Public Prosecutor Ronak Raval.
Ramesh Chandana was among the 11 people, who were convicted for raping Bilkis Bano and murdering her family members during the Gujarat riots of 2002.
These include Radheshyam Shah, Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Kesar Vohania, Baka Vohania, Raju Soni, Shailesh Bhatt, Bipin Joshi, Pradip Modhiya, and Mitesh Bhatt.
Earlier, Pradipbhai Ramamlal Modiya was granted parole in February 2024 by the High Court for five days after his father-in-law expired.
On August 14, 2023, the 11 convicts 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.