SC dismisses plea of two convicts in Bilkis Bano case against Jan 8 verdict cancelling remission
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea of two of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case challenging the January 8 verdict cancelling their remission.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar termed the plea as "absolutely misconceived" and said how can it sit in appeal over an order passed by another bench of the apex court.
"What is this plea? How is this plea maintainable? This is absolutely misconceived. How can an Article 32 petition be filed? We can’t sit in appeal over an order passed by another bench," the bench said.
Advocate Rishi Malhotra appearing for convicts Radheyshaym Bhagwandas Shah and Rajubhai Babulal Soni sought permission to withdraw the plea.
The bench allowed the counsel to withdraw the plea.
Shah has also applied for interim bail.
In March, both the convicts moved the top court contending that its January 8 verdict cancelling remission of their sentence was "in teeth of" a 2002 constitution bench order and sought the issue to be referred to a larger bench for "final" adjudication.
Shah and Soni, both lodged in Godhra sub-jail after the apex court verdict, said an "anomalous" situation has arisen wherein two different coordinate benches (benches of the same strength) have taken diametrically opposite views on the same issue of premature release as well as on which policy of the state government would apply to the petitioners for remission.
The plea, filed through Malhotra, said while one bench on May 13, 2022, categorically ordered the Gujarat government to consider Shah's application for premature release in terms of the state government's remission policy of July 9, 1992, the bench that pronounced the verdict on January 8, 2024, concluded that it was Maharashtra and not the Gujarat government that was competent to grant remission.
"That with greatest respect the judgment rendered on January 8, 2024, is directly in teeth of the constitution bench decision in Rupa Ashok Hurra's case of 2002 and the same needs to be set aside, as if the same is permitted then it would lead to not only judicial impropriety but to uncertainty and chaos as to which precedence (sic) of law has to be applied in future.
"In other words, if any party being not satisfied with the Supreme Court judgment on an issue, he would be entitled to file a writ petition challenging the said judgment by taking recourse to the law laid down in Bilkis Bano case," the plea said.
It said a fundamental issue arises for consideration as to whether a subsequent co-ordinate bench can set aside its judgment rendered by its earlier co-ordinate bench and pass contradictory orders/judgments overruling its earlier view or the proper course would have been to refer the matter to a larger bench in case it felt that the earlier judgment was passed in wrong appreciation of law and facts.
The plea sought a direction to the Centre to consider the case of the petitioners for premature release and clarify which judgment of its coordinate benches of May 13, 2022, or January 8, 2024, would apply to them.
It said since two benches of the apex court of the same strength have passed conflicting orders, the matter should be referred to a larger bench for final adjudication.
On January 8, in a massive setback to the Gujarat government, the top court quashed the remission it had granted to 11 convicts in the high-profile gang-rape case of Bilkis Bano and the killing of her seven family members while slamming the state for being "complicit" with the accused and abusing its discretion.
It ordered all the convicts, who were released prematurely on Independence Day in 2022, back to jail within two weeks.
Criticising the Gujarat government, the apex court said it "usurped" the power of the Maharashtra government to grant remission to the convicts.
It held as nullity the May 13, 2022, judgment of another bench of the apex court, which had directed the Gujarat government to consider the remission applications of the 11 convicts in the case, saying it was obtained by "playing fraud on the court".
Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was raped while fleeing the horror of the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident in February 2002. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed.
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Nine dead as fire breaks out in residential building in east Delhi
New Delhi (PTI): A fire broke out in a residential building in east Delhi's Vivek Vihar early Sunday, leaving nine people belonging to two families dead, including a toddler, officials said.
The incident was reported around 3.48 am at a four-storey building in Vivek Vihar Phase-I, following which police, fire and disaster management teams rushed to the spot.
According to the police, the blaze engulfed flats on the second, third and fourth floors of the building, prompting a large-scale rescue operation.The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
The Delhi Fire Service (DFS) said nine charred bodies were recovered from different floors.
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"One body was recovered from the first floor, five from the second floor and three from the staircase which was found locked," the DFS officer said.
Those found dead on the second floor have been identified as Arvind Jain (60), his wife Anita Jain (58), son Nishant Jain (35), daughter-in-law Anchal Jain (33) and grandchild Akash Jain.
On the third floor, three members of a family were found dead. They were identified as Nitin Jain (50), wife Shailey Jain (48) and son Samyak Jain (25).
On the first floor a woman identified as Shikha Jain (45) was found dead while her husband Naveen Jain (48) sustained injuries.
A senior police officer said, "Around 10 to 15 people were rescued from the premises during the firefighting operation. Two of them, who sustained minor injuries, were shifted to the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital."
A total of 12 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames, while teams from the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), traffic police and local police assisted in the rescue and evacuation efforts.
Police said the fire was brought under control after several hours. Efforts are underway to determine the cause of the fire, police said.
Further investigation and proceedings are underway.
