Bilkis Bano gangrape case: 2 convicts withdraw plea after HC indicates it is not inclined to grant parole

As Justice Joshi, while denying the applicaions, said “rejected”, the lawyers sought to withdraw the pleas, which the judge agreed to.

This is the first instance when the HC has shown its unwillingness to grant parole to a convict in the case since the 11 convicts surrendered in January.

The HC had earlier granted parole to two other convicts in the case. While Ramesh Chandana was granted parole on February 23 for 10 days to attend the wedding of his nephew, Pradip Modhiya was granted parole on February 5 for five days after his father-in-law’s death. Notably, Chandana was granted parole by Justice Joshi.

According to data shared by the Gujarat government at the SC earlier, prior to the grant of remission in August 2022, Shailesh enjoyed 934 days of parole on 17 instances, surrendering by a delay of four days once and two days another time. He was also granted 163 days of furlough.

Mitesh, meanwhile, was granted 771 days of parole and 234 days of furlough in 11 instances during his period of incarceration. Mitesh had surrendered late by 39 days once and by one day another time while on parole.

Convicts Radheshyam Shah, Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Kesar Vohania, Baka Vohania, Raju Soni, Ramesh Chandana, Shailesh Bhatt, Bipin Joshi, Pradip Modhiya and Mitesh Bhatt had arrived from Singwad in Dahod district to the Godhra sub-jail in Panchmahal district on January 21 in the last hour of their stipulated time awarded by the SC to surrender.

The surrender had come two days after the SC dismissed petitions of most convicts seeking more time to surrender at jail citing reasons like ill-health of parents, a wedding in the family and crop harvest, among others.

On January 8, the SC had quashed the Gujarat government decision to grant remission to the 11 convicts, who had been sentenced to life term for raping Bano and killing her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

The Gujarat government had released the convicts on August 15, 2022, as per its 1992 remission policy, based on a May 2022 SC order in a petition filed by one of the convicts, Radheshyam Shah. Bano had challenged the state government’s decision to grant remission before the SC.

Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gangraped while fleeing with her family from Randhikpur in the aftermath of the 2002 Sabarmati train carnage. In the same incident, 14 members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter, were killed.