No escape for convicts, SC denies time extension for surrender

New Delhi: Eleven convicts in the case of gangrape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots now will have to surrender on or before January 21 as the Supreme Court dismissed their plea for time extension.

Justice B V Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, the presiding judges, refused to grant leniency, stating that the convicts’ reasons for delay “in no way prevent them from complying with our directions.” These pleas, submitted on Thursday, cited various justifications for postponing surrender, including health issues, upcoming surgeries, a son’s marriage, and crop harvesting.

This decision follows the Supreme Court’s January 8 annulment of the Gujarat government’s remission order for the convicts. The court criticised the state for “collusion” with one of the accused and abuse of power, leading to the premature release of the men on Independence Day 2022. They were ordered to return behind bars within two weeks.

“We have heard senior counsel and counsel for the applicants and the counsel for the non-applicants also. The reasons cited by applicants to seek postponement of surrender and report back to jail have no merit inasmuch as those reasons in no way prevent them from complying with our directions. Hence the miscellaneous applications are dismissed,” the bench said.

The first five convicts who had sought relief are Govind Nai, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Ramesh Chandana and Mitesh Bhatt.

Later, the remaining convicts also moved a similar plea.

“The respondent himself is an old man who is suffering from asthma and is in really poor health. It is further submitted that the respondent was recently operated upon and had to undergo an angiography. It is also submitted that the Respondent is yet to undergo another operation for the treatment of ‘Hemorrhoids’,” Nai said in his plea. He also cited his bedridden 88-year-old father’s ill health to seek relief.

In his plea seeking more time to surrender, Chandana said he was looking after his crops and that they were ready for harvest.