Bilkis Bano Case: Supreme Court Grants Bail To Two Convicts After 17 Years In Jail

The Supreme Court has granted bail to two convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case linked to the 2002 Gujarat riots, citing their more than 17 years of incarceration, the Hindustan Times Reported. The order comes over two years after the court quashed the premature release of 11 men serving life sentences in the case.

A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and PB Varale passed the order on October 28, directing the release on bail of Bipinchand Kanaiyalal Joshi and Pradip Ramanlal Modhiya. The order, uploaded late on Thursday, said the bail would be subject to terms and conditions imposed by the trial court.

“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 observed.

The court also noted that one of the appellants had not been named in the first information report and was implicated nearly three years later. The two men had challenged a 2017 Bombay High Court judgment upholding their convictions and sentences.

Supreme Court Considers Length Of Incarceration

In March, the Supreme Court had sought responses from the Gujarat and Maharashtra governments after Joshi and Modhiya approached it against the Bombay High Court judgment.

According to the report, senior advocates Sidharth Luthra and Sonia Mathur, appearing for the two convicts, told the court that they had been tried and convicted alongside nine others under provisions of the Indian Penal Code relating to murder and gang rape. They were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life and fined.

Additional Solicitor General Rajkumar Bhaskar Thakare opposed their bail pleas, arguing that the seriousness of the offences, including gang rape, was relevant to determining whether they should be released. He submitted that the lower courts had considered the evidence on record and the gravity of the crimes.

The Supreme Court noted that issues of fact and law remained to be decided in the appeals. Its order grants the two men bail while their appeals against their convictions and sentences remain pending, the report said.

Bilkis Bano Case And The 2024 Remission Ruling

Bilkis Bano was 21 and three months pregnant when she was gang-raped during the 2002 Gujarat riots, which followed the burning of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra. Seven members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter, were murdered. The riots left around 1,000 people dead.

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

In 2008, 11 men were convicted of gang rape and murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Gujarat government granted them remission in August 2022, leading to their release and widespread criticism.

Bilkis Bano challenged the remission decision. In January 2024, the Supreme Court quashed the release orders, ruling that Gujarat was not the competent government to decide on remission because the trial had been transferred to Mumbai, making Maharashtra the appropriate state authority.

The court also held that its 2022 order directing the Gujarat government to consider a remission plea had been obtained by suppressing material facts and through fraud. Following the ruling, the 11 convicts returned to jail.

Joshi and Modhiya subsequently pursued appeals against their convictions, which were upheld by the Bombay High Court in 2017. The latest order grants them bail after more than 17 years in custody, while their appeals remain to be decided.