Kalvakuntla Kavitha (MLC) penned a letter to the Shri NV Ramana, the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India imploring the Supreme Court to Intervene in the matter of the release of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano rape case of the 2002 Gujarat. Bilkis Bano was 21 and was pregnant when this incident took place during the 2002 Gujarat Riots. On August 15, 2022 Gujarat government released 11 convicts.
Ms. Kavitha wrote a heartfelt appeal to the Chief Justice, the details of which are below:
“I am writing to you with a heavy heart regarding the Bilkis Bano case of the 2002 Gujarat riots where the Gujarat government released 11 convicts, relying on a 1992 policy following the direction of the Supreme Court, while the State government’s revised policy of 2014 would have made them ineligible for remission.
Crimes such as rape shake the very core of our social conscience and seeing convicted rapists walk out freely on a day such as our Independence Day sends shivers down the spine of every woman and indeed every citizen who places their faith in the laws of the land and the justice system of our country,” she said.
She highlighted relevant technical and legal points and pointed out that “this case was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). It was the Special CBI Court that sentenced these convicts. Section 435 (1) (a) of the Criminal Procedure Code states that the power of the state government to remit or commute a sentence in any case which was investigated by the CBI shall not be exercised by the state government, except after consultation with the central government.” She questioned and remarked that “Whether the release of the 11 convicts, in this case, was done in consultation with the Central Government is unclear.
She aptly pointed out that “it has to be taken into consideration that the 1992 policy was substituted by the 2014 policy to align the remission policy of the state government with the judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court dated 20/11/2012 in criminal appeal no. 490-491 of 2011, where the Supreme Court observed that the remission powers of the appropriate government should not be exercised arbitrarily and should be exercised with some inherent procedural and substantive checks on the said power.” It is not clear, she observed that “whether the aforesaid procedural and substantive checks were taken into account while releasing the 11 convicts.”
She concluded the letter to the Hon’ble CJI with an earnest request: “Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and 5 months pregnant at the time when this heinous crime took place and to imagine her seeing her rapists walking free with impunity, then being garlanded and celebrated for release must have shattered her.
I implore the Honourable Supreme Court of India to save the nation’s faith in our laws and in humanity by intervening in this matter so that the decision of the release of the aforementioned convicts is withdrawn immediately.”
