SC judge Bela Trivedi recuses from hearing Bilkis Bano's plea against early release of convicts

A Supreme Court judge, Justice Bela M Trivedi on Tuesday recused from hearing the petition filed by Bilkis Bano against the release of 11 men convicted and sentenced to life term in case related to her gang rape and murder of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Justice Trivedi, sitting with a bench presided over by Justice Ajay Rastogi opted out of the case as soon as it came up for hearing.

The matter would now come up with a different composition of bench after seeking instructions from the Chief Justice of India on administrative side.

A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath also separately took up in chambers a review petition filed by Bilkis against the May 13, 2022 order allowing the Gujarat government to consider remission of one of the convicts in terms of 1992 policy.

In her writ petition, Bilkis questioned the validity of the order related to premature release of 11 men sentenced to life term in "one of the most gruesome crimes of extreme inhuman violence and brutality, persuaded by hate towards a particular community".

She also claimed the en masse premature release of the convicts has shaken conscience of the society.

"The premature release of all the convicts came as a shock not only to the petitioner, to her grown up daughters, to her family, but also to the society at large, nationally and internationally, and the society across segments had shown their anger, disappointment, distrust and protest to the clemency. Agitations and public protest were carried out virtually in each city of the country and the order of premature release was heavily criticized very vocally on all social media platforms and news platforms," her plea said.

On August 10, the Gujarat government decided to remit the sentence of all the convicts. Thereafter, a number of petitions were filed before the court against the order.