Trial adjourned against release of 11 convicts in Bilgis Bhanu case
The Supreme Court adjourned the hearing of the petitions against the 11 convicts acquitted in the Bilgis Banu case to May 9.
Bilgis Banu was gang-raped during the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002. She was 21 years old then. She was a wife for five months. A violent gang killed 7 family members including his 3-year-old daughter. In 2008, a special CBI court in Mumbai sentenced 11 criminals to life imprisonment in connection with this incident.
All of them were released by the Gujarat government on Independence Day in August last year. According to the state government, the prisoners were released on the basis of the commutation policy implemented in Gujarat in 1992.
Bilgis Banu, Trinamool Congress MP against their release. Mahua Moitra, Marxist Communist Party candidate Subashini Ali and others have filed a petition in the Supreme Court.
These petitions came up for hearing on Tuesday before a bench comprising Justices KM Joseph and PV Nagaratna. The lawyers appearing on behalf of the acquitted convicts requested time to file their reply regarding Bilgis Banu’s petition. Accepting it, the judges adjourned the next hearing of the case to May 9.