Bilkis Bano gang rape case: Supreme Court grants bail to 2 convicts

The Supreme Court has granted bail to two convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case during the 2002 Gujarat riots, citing their long incarceration of 17 years, over two years after quashing the early release of 11 men serving life sentences in the matter.

The 11 men were convicted in 2008 of gang-raping a three-month pregnant Bilkis Bano and murdering seven of her relatives, including her three-year-old daughter, during the riots that left 1,000 people dead. The Gujarat government ordered their release in August 2022, drawing condemnation.

The Supreme Court in 2024 said Gujarat lacked the authority to reduce the sentence since the trial had moved to Mumbai, which made Maharashtra responsible for the decision. It said a 2022 order of the court directing the Gujarat government to consider remission was obtained fraudulently and by suppressing material facts

A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and PB Varale on October 28 (Wednesday) ordered the release of Bipinchand Kanaiyalal Joshi and Pradip Ramanlal Modhiya. In March, the bench sought responses from the Gujarat and Maharashtra governments after Joshi and Modhiyaan challenged the Bombay high court’s 2017 order upholding their conviction and sentence.

“The appellants have been under incarceration for a period of more than 17 years, and also the fact remains that one of the appellants (Joshi) has a severe handicap. Certainly, there are issues to be decided in the appeal, both on fact and law,” the bench said in its October 28 order.

It pointed out that one of the appellants was not named in the first information report and was implicated after a substantial period of nearly three years.

The order, uploaded late on Thursday, said the bail is being granted to the two on terms and conditions as the trial court may impose.

Senior advocates Sidharth Luthra and Sonia Mathur, who appeared for Joshi and Modhiyaan, told the court that the two were tried and convicted with nine others under the Indian Penal Code sections related to murder and gangrape and were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life and a fine.

Additional solicitor general Rajkumar Bhaskar Thakare opposed the bail, saying the offences involve gang rape. Thakare said the lower courts took into consideration the material on record and seriousness of the offence, which is relevant for determining bail.

Bilkis Bano was 21 when she was gang raped amid the riots in Gujarat triggered in the aftermath of the torching of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra in February 2002.

The Supreme Court in December 2003 ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the case. In August 2004, it shifted the trial to Mumbai.

Joshi and Modhiya filed their appeals years after the convicts were granted remission in August 2022 and were released. Bano challenged the remission order, and the Supreme Court set it aside in January 2024. The convicts have since been in a Gujarat jail.