No Error Apparent On Face Of Record- SC While Dismissing Review Petition Of Bilkis Bano

The Supreme Court has dismissed the review petition filed by the Gujarat Riots Gangrape survivor, Bilkis Bano that challenged its judgment dated May 13 in which it was held that remission of the convicts should be considered as per the 1992 policy that existed at the time of conviction in Gujarat.

The Bench comprising Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice Vikram Nath ordered –

"We have perused the review petition as well as the connected papers in support thereof and the judgments referred to by the review petitioner. In our opinion, there appears no error apparent on the face of record, which may call for review of the judgment dated 13th May, 2022 and as regards the judgments on which the reliance has been placed, none of the judgments are of any assistance to the review petitioner. In our opinion, no case for review is made out."

Earlier this month, the Bench of the Apex Court comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narsimha had refused to entertain submissions seeking the early setting up of a fresh bench to hear Bano's plea challenging the remission of the sentence of 11 convicts by the Gujarat Government.

On December 13, Justice Bela M Trivedi recused herself from hearing a plea filed by Bano. As soon as a Bench of Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice Bela M Trivedi took up the matter for hearing, Justice Rastogi said that his sister judge will not like to hear the case.

Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed. The investigation in the case was handed over to the CBI and the trial was transferred to a Maharashtra Court by the Supreme Court. A special CBI court in Mumbai had on January 21, 2008 sentenced the 11 to life imprisonment. Their conviction was later upheld by the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court.

The 11 men convicted in the case walked out of the Godhra sub-jail on August 15 after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy. They had completed more than 15 years in jail.

Cause Title – Bilkis Yakub School v. Union of India & Others

Click here to read/download the Order