Case Bilkis Bano: SC Accepts Convicts’ Request for Extension of Time to Turn in Their Sentences

In order to give themselves more time to turn themselves in to the relevant prison authorities, three convicted felons in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case have petitioned the Supreme Court. After hearing the petitions on Thursday, the Supreme Court decided to hear them on Friday, January 19.

On Thursday, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathana and Sanjay Karol discussed the request for a time extension and requested that the Registry present the case before CJI.

Three responders claim that requests for an extension of the deadline for turning themselves in and reporting to prison have been made. The bench said that since time runs out on Sunday, the registry must get directions from CJI to reassemble the bench.

The Gujarat government’s decision to award remission to eleven prisoners in the case was overturned by the highest court on January 8, stating that the rulings were “stereotypical” and made without consideration.

In two weeks, the inmates were instructed to turn themselves in to the prison administration.

According to a Bar and Bench article, three prisoners—Govindhbhai Nai, Ramesh Rupabhai Chandana, and Mitesh Chimanlal Bhat—have now requested an extension of their surrender deadline.

Chandana and Bhat requested six weeks to return, while Nai requested four weeks to give up.

As stated in the Bar and Bench report, Nai requested a time extension citing both his health and his family commitments.

Nai’s father is sick and reliant on him, per his petition. In addition, he said that he had just had an angiography and that he still needed to have another procedure to address “haemorrhoids.”

In his appeal, Chandana allegedly said that he must marry his son and fulfill his obligations, while Bhat stated that his winter product is ready for harvest and that he would rather finish the process before giving up.

On August 15, 2022, the Gujarati government shockingly freed 11 men found guilty of murdering Bilkis’ family and raping her in a group. Eleven prisoners were released, according to the administration, because of their exemplary behavior.

BILKIS BANO CASE
After the Sabarmati train carrying “karsevaks” burned at Godhra, February 2002 saw rioting in Gujarat, where 49 “karsevaks” perished on the train.

Bilkis Bano, who was five months pregnant at the time, abandoned her hometown of Randhikpur along with fifteen other family members out of fear of violence. In the district of Chhaparvad, they sought sanctuary.

Nevertheless, on March 3, 2002, Bilkis and her family were assaulted by a gang of twenty to thirty individuals with swords and clubs. The eleven guys who are suspected of raping her were among the assailants. Bilkis’s three-year-old daughter was murdered by the mob, and she was raped and attacked along with her mother and three other women.

Six of the seventeen Muslims from Radhikpur hamlet were reported missing, and eight of them were discovered dead. Only a three-year-old, a guy, and Bilkis made it out of the onslaught alive.

Bilkis filed a complaint at the Limkheda police station after regaining consciousness and borrowing clothing from an Adivasi lady.