The Supreme Court is set for a busy Thursday, with several important matters listed for hearing, including petitions challenging release of the 11 convicts in Bilkis Bano case, the Pegasus spyware matter and review plea against the top court’s recent judgment upholding the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The plea related to security lapses during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Punjab visit in January this year is also listed for hearing. A bench headed by CJI N V Ramana, who is set to retire on Thursday, and comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath will hear petition filed by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali and two others challenging remission granted by Gujarat government to the convicts in Bilkis Bano case. A bench of Justices Rastogi and Nath had in May ruled that Gujarat government was the appropriate authority to decide on the remission pleas. A bench comprising the CJI, and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli will go into the report submitted by the committee appointed by it in October 2021 to conduct a “thorough inquiry” into allegations of use of Pegasus software for unauthorised surveillance. The committee, which comprises three technical members and is supervised by Justice R V Raveendran (retired), had submitted its report to the court. On January 12, the SC had appointed a committee under its former judge, Justice Indu Malhotra, to probe the security breach during Modi’s visit to Punjab on January 5. On Thursday, a bench of CJI and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli will pronounce further orders in the matter. On Wednesday, a bench headed by the CJI decided to hear Congress MP Karti Chidambaram’s plea seeking review of the PMLA ruling in open court on Thursday. The matter will be heard by a bench of the CJI and Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar.
