India Court Cancels Early Release of Gujarat Gang Rape Convicts

Shruti Mahajan
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- India’s Supreme Court quashed the early release of 11 men sentenced to life in prison, convicted of gang-rape and murder during the 2002 communal riots in western state of Gujarat.

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The top court said the Gujarat state government did not have the jurisdiction to reduce the men’s prison sentence. The court directed the men to report back to prison within two weeks.

In the aftermath of the riots, the 11 men were charged with gang-raping Bilkis Bano, a Muslim woman, and killing her family members. They were tried and convicted in the neighboring state of Maharashtra, given the sensitivity of the case and concerns over security.

Only the Maharashtra government could have passed an order for remission of the sentence, the top court said today, adding that the Gujarat state government’s executive order commuting the sentences was “passed by usurping the power.”

A large number of criminal cases lodged in the wake of the riots remain pending, more than two decades after the riots. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gujarat’s chief minister at the time of the riots, was accused of condoning the violence that left more than 1,000 people dead, mostly Muslims. Modi was exonerated by a Supreme Court-appointed special investigating team.

Bilkis Bano petitioned India’s top court in 2022 after her perpetrators were released by the Gujarat government before their prison terms ended, citing good behavior. While ruling on her plea, the top court said that depriving the men of their liberty was justified in this case.

Remission has to be viewed alongside the rights of victims and the idea of justice, Justice B. V. Nagarathna, the Supreme Court judge heading a two-bench panel said, while reading the ruling. “A woman deserves respect howsoever low she is regarded in the society or whichever faith she follows.”

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