TODAY, a Supreme Court division Bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan quashed the remission Orders which led to the premature release of 11 convicts who gang-raped Bilkis Bano and murdered several of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat pogrom.
The court held that the ‘appropriate government’ to consider the remission of the convicts was the Maharashtra government and not the Gujarat government.
The court held that the definition of ‘appropriate government’ under Section 432(7) (power to suspend or remit sentences) of the Code of Criminal Procedure is the government of the state where the offender is tried and not where the offence occurred or where the convict is imprisoned.
Further, the court held that one of the convicts, Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah alias Lala Vakil had suppressed facts when he came before the Supreme Court seeking premature release.
The court vitiated the Order of May 13, 2022 of the Supreme Court which held that the appropriate government to consider remission of Radheshyam is the Gujarat government on the ground of fraud.
This story was originally published in theleaflet.in. Read the full story here .