Ahead of the Supreme Court’s final hearing of pleas against the remission to the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case, Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra on Tuesday expressed doubt that the Centre and the Gujarat government may deploy “delay tactics”.
Our #bilkisbanocase petition listed today at 2 pm for final hearing. Waiting to see what delaying tactics of review/privelege etc will be used by Union & Gujarat state,” Moitra, who is one of the petitioners in the Supreme Court against the release of the 11 rapists of Bilkis Bano, tweeted. She added that “truth shall overcome. Justice will prevail”.
Earlier, Moitra slammed the Gujarat government for claiming privilege over the files of remission or premature release of the convicts in the case of gangrape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots.
“This is a delaying tactic on the part of Centre and Gujarat governments. They were clearly in contempt as they didn’t produce the files,” she had said.During the last hearing on April 18, the Centre and the Gujarat government had told the Supreme Court that they might file a plea seeking a review of its March 27 order asking them to be ready with original files on the grant of remission.
The Supreme Court had questioned the Gujarat government over the remission. The court said the gravity of the offence should have been considered and asked whether there was any application of mind. Asked about the hearing in the Supreme Court and the top court’s observation, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, “It was not an ordinary crime or just gangrape, her child was killed… Can you imagine what she would have gone through and the the Gujarat government and the central government say these files are privilege.”
“What privilege is there, is it a national security issue? This is a matter of a woman’s right. You will have to put forward the truth on what basis you released such hardened criminals and on what basis your people called them ‘sanskari’,” she said, slamming the government. Asking for reasons for the premature release of the convicts, a bench of justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna had also questioned the paroles granted to them during their incarceration period.
On March 27, terming Bilkis Bano’s gangrape and the murder of her family members as a “horrendous” act, the top court had asked the Gujarat government whether uniform standards, as followed in other cases of murder, were applied while granting remission to the 11 convicts in the case.
