Another Bilkis Bano Case Convict Gets Parole From the Gujarat High Court to Attend His Nephew’s Wedding
Image Source: NDTV
The Gujarat High Court has granted a 10-day parole to one of the 11 convicts of the heinous Bilkis Bano gang rape case, citing the wedding of his nephew. This comes a month after the convicts surrendered to the jail authorities in Panchmahal district in Godhra, conforming to the previous Supreme Court order that had revoked their remission and slammed the Gujarat government for the decision.
Justice Divyesh Joshi granted the temporary release of the convict. The order said, “Taking into consideration the grounds urged in this application, the applicant-accused is ordered to be released on parole leave for ten days, on the applicant furnishing a bail bond of $5,000 to the satisfaction of the jail authority on usual terms and conditions. The applicant shall surrender before the jail authority on or before the expiry of the period of parole leave. This application is accordingly allowed.”
Ramesh Chandana, one of the convicts, urged the High Court for parole last week. Notably, he is the second convict in the case to be granted parole. Almost a fortnight earlier, Pradeep Modhiya had sought the same on the grounds of his father-in-law’s demise and was permitted a 5-day parole to go to his village, reportedly due to his good conduct in jail as per the prosecution.
According to the affidavit filed by the Gujarat government to the SC, he has been granted parole for over 1,041 days, in addition to 223 days off as furlough since his imprisonment in 2008. The affidavit also stated that he had surrendered late by a day on three occasions. In addition, Chandana has had 1,198 days of parole and 378 days of furlough since he was arrested in 2008.
Last month, the Supreme Court quashed the HC’s decision of remission to all of the convicts in the case. Justice BV Nagarathna, along with Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, dismissed the judgment and said it was obtained by fraud by concealing significant and material facts. She proceeded with scathing remarks and called the government complicit with the convicts. The remission was granted on the grounds of the 1992 remission policy, despite the newly revised policy of 2014, which strictly prohibits such remission to those convicted of rape, murder, and other grave offenses.
However, one of the convicts, Radheshyam Bhagwandas, who had applied for the writ petition in the SC for the remission, called for the invocation of the 1992 policy. He contended that the 2014 policy did not exist when he was arrested, so the former one should prevail over it, which cleared the way for his remission in an order passed by the Gujarat government in 2022.
Afterward, Bilkis Bano filed a writ petition against the order, which was heard by the aforementioned Judges who held that the authority to permit the remission lies with the State that passes the sentence against the convict. Jurisdiction or location of the crime is irrelevant. The trial was shifted to a special court in Mumbai back in 2005 as per the Supreme Court’s direction, to keep it fair and equitable.
According to Scroll, the Gujarat High Court had dismissed his plea and told him to go to the Maharashtra government since they are the competent authority on the remission. Subsequently, the CBI, a Special judge in Mumbai, as well as the Superintendent of Police, all expressed disapproval against granting remission to Shah.
Shah omitted all of these important details in his plea to the Supreme Court and made it seem as if there was a conflict of orders between Bombay and Gujarat HC, which was totally unrelated to the remission order, thereby misleading and deceiving them.
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