Not a setback to writ against release, we are hopeful: Bilkis husband, lawyer

Bilkis’s husband Yaqub Rasool said the family was trying to understand the “legal aspects”.

“We have been saddened by the remission and the premature release of the convicts… It is not something we have been able to make peace with but we have faith in the court… We have filed the petition challenging the remission, which will be heard in the first week of January, we are told by our lawyer. We have learnt that the review petition of the May 2022 order of the SC has been dismissed but we are hopeful that the court will restore justice that has been taken away from us… Maybe then, Bilkis will be able to sleep again,” he said.

Gupta said, “The challenge of the actual release is a separate writ petition. It is a setback that the review has been dismissed. We have not yet received the order. I have only received an email from the Registry of the Court summarising the conclusion of the order… in all probability, the order might say that the petitioner is at liberty to raise all the points in the writ petition and stop the multiplication (of petitions). So, there is no setback to the writ petition.”

“Yes, legally, we wanted the order of May 13, 2022, to be corrected because the Court has said the state of Gujarat is the appropriate government; so what if the conviction has taken place in Maharashtra but the crime was committed in Gujarat. This, in our humble opinion, is an incorrect view on the face of four judgements of the SC since 1972, and also on the face of the very unambiguous position of law, and upholds the earlier Section 401 of CrPC which considers the state where the conviction has taken place as the appropriate authority,” she said.

According to Gupta, as per the policy of the State of Maharashtra, the convicts would be “ineligible” for remission. “Because it was the State of Maharashtra (for conviction), as per the policy of the state in case of convicts sentenced to life imprisonment – and each of the 11 convicts here has two (concurrent) life sentences – the minimum sentence that must be served (before being considered for remission) is 28 years. It takes into account the fact that a pregnant woman was raped, women were raped and murdered, and eight minors were killed in this case. So, we were seeking a review of the order for legal aspects.”

“There is no setback to the merit to be tested of the remission orders and whether the State of Gujarat should have taken up the matter just because of the SC order. It was the duty of the State of Gujarat to file a review petition or clarify it,” she said.