SC to resume hearing on pleas challenging remission granted to Bilkis Bano case convicts

The final hearing is underway before a bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan in the matter against the release of convicts, including on the plea filed by Bilkis Bano herself. On August 24, the top court had remarked that convicts, whose remission applications were considered by the Gujarat government pursuant to an earlier order of the top court, cannot argue that the remission orders setting them free cannot be challenged at all. In the earlier judgment, the Supreme Court had directed the Gujarat government to consider and decide the application for premature release within two months in terms of remission of 1992 policy of the state. The bench said that its earlier order was limited to the extent that the Gujarat government is the appropriate government to decide convicts' application for remission and remission order passed thereafter would fall under the category of 'administrative order.' The 11 men convicted in the case were released on August 15 last year, after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy. The convicts had completed 15 years in jail. --IANS pds/vd

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