New Delhi, The Supreme Court of India on Friday dismissed the applications of 11 men convicted in the Bilkis Bano case, who had requested additional time to surrender. These men were convicted of gang-raping Bilkis Bano and murdering seven of her family members during the 2002 anti-Muslim riots.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the Bench, led by Justice NV Nagarathna, found no merit in the reasons cited by the applicants to postpone their surrender. The court had previously quashed the remission granted to them by the Gujarat government on January 8 and ordered them to surrender within two weeks. The convicts, including Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, and others, had sought an extension on various grounds such as health issues and personal commitments. They must now surrender by January 22. The Supreme Court’s January 8 ruling criticized the Gujarat government’s handling of the case, labeling its actions as “complicit” and an overreach of its authority in granting remission.
The Bilkis Bano case is a high-profile incident from the 2002 Gujarat riots, where Bano, then pregnant, was gang-raped, and her young daughter and several others were killed.