Released 11 convicts as behaviour ‘found to be good’, Gujarat govt tells SC

The Gujarat government has told the Supreme Court that the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case were released since they completed 14 years in prison and their behaviour was found to be goodIn an affidavit state Home Department Under Secretary said I say that the state government considered all the opinions and decided to release 11 prisoners since they have completed 14 years and above in prisons and their behaviour was found to be goodIt added that the state government considered the opinions of the seven authorities the Inspector General of Prisons Gujarat the Jail Superintendents the Jail Advisory Committee the District Magistrate the Police Superintendent the CBI the Special Crime Branch Mumbai and the sessions court Mumbai CBIAfter approval of the state government orders have been issued on August 10 2022 to release the prisoners Hence in instance case the state has considered the proposals under policy of 1992 as directed by this court and not granted under the circular governing grant of remission to prisoners as part of celebration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav added the affidavitAlso ReadThe affidavit said that all the convict prisoners have completed 14 years in the prison under life imprisonment and opinions of the concerned authorities have been obtained as per the policy of July 9 1992 and submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs by letter dated June 28 2022 and sought the approvalsuitable orders of the CentreThe Government of India conveyed the concurrence approval of the Central Government under section 435 of the CrPC for premature release of 11 prisoners vide letter dated July 11 2022 said the affidavitThe affidavit said the state government is empowered to take the decisions on the proposal of premature release of prisoners under the provision of Section 432 and 433 of CrPC However considering the provision of Section 435 CrPC it is indispensable to obtain the sanction of the Government of India in cases in which the investigation of the offence was carried out by a central investigation agency In the present case the investigation was carried out by the CBI and the state government has obtained the approvalsuitable orders of the Government of India it addedThe Gujarat governments response came on a plea has been filed by CPIMs former MP Subhasini Ali journalist Revati Laul and Prof Roop Rekha Verma challenging the release of 11 men convicted for the gangrape of Bilkis Bano and multiple murders during the 2002 Gujarat riots Another plea challenging the release of the convicts was filed by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua MoitraThe Gujarat government denied each and every assertion made by the petitioners and said the petition is not maintainable in law nor tenable on facts The petitioner being a third stranger has no locus to challenge the remission orders by the competent authority strictly as per applicable law in the instant case under the garb of a PIL said the affidavitThe affidavit submitted that it is well established that a PIL is not maintainable in a criminal matter and the petitioner is in no way connected to the proceedings which either convicted the accused in question nor with the proceedings which culminated in grant of remission to the convicts Thus a petition at the instance of a mere busybody and which has political machinations is liable to be dismissed it addedOn September 9 the apex court directed the Gujarat government to file all records which formed the basis for granting remission to all the accused in the case It directed the state government to file its response within 2 weeks and also asked advocate Rishi Malhotra representing some of the accused to file a responseA convict in Bilkis Bano case has told the Supreme Court that the petition challenging Gujarat governments remission order is speculative and politically motivatedThe plea filed by Radheysham Bhagwandas Shah said This court not only on the ground of locus and maintainability but also on the ground of such speculative and politically motivated petition should dismiss the said petition with heavy hand and imposed an exemplary cost so that such political motivated petition by strangers should not be encouraged in future by others This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever